ANBU Gaiden
by tosakuai
Summary: Set 4 yrs after manga 460 about the time Naruto and Sakura spend in ANBU. Danzo is the Hokage and Sasuke has yet to be brought home. What trials await them? Prequel to "In My Father's Shoes". NaruSaku plus other pairings. Full summary inside.
1. Celebration

Summary: This story is set four years after the current Manga (460). This tale is about the time that Naruto and Sakura spent in ANBU. Sasuke has yet to be brought home, although they did run into him at some point around the time Danzo became Hokage. Akatsuki is still out there, although they are not as much of an immediate threat as four years ago. This is a story about not only being in ANBU, but the trials that Naruto and Sakura go through as a young adults. What trials await them? Will they ever bring Sasuke home? What kind of Hokage does Danzo make? Prequel to "In My Father's Shoes".

This story is nearly finished on my computer. I hope to get it updated regularly as fast as possible-but being a perfectionist that may not be as fast as even I would like. Read and Review.

**All Naruto characters belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto****. The story is only about what could be.  
**

ANBU Gaiden

Chapter 1

They entered a dimly lit night club where they spent a few nights out of the month with some of their closest friends. The music was loud, the beat was fast, and it was a way to escape from the realities that went with being ninja. Sakura and Naruto walked through the throngs of people looking for their friends when they spotted Ino waiving at them from a table clear across the crowded room.

"So where have you two been?" Ino asked Sakura as she joined them at their table. The members of team 10 and Sai were already waiting for them at a table when Sakura and Naruto walked up. Sakura was wearing a red mini skirt and a black short sleeved blouse that showed off her womanly curves. She had let her hair grow out longer than how she wore it as a genin and she had it tied up in a lose braid. Naruto walked in wearing a black, long sleeve turtle neck and orange cargo pants, longer versions of ones he use to wear as a kid. Naruto had hit the last of his growth spurts and was now a head taller than Sakura and he had slightly broader shoulders than his father had at his age. To say that they both were looking good would be an understatement.

"We just had a little something to take care of with Yamato-taicho," replied Sakura calmly. The one thing out of place was a bandage that covered a rather fresh tattoo on her left shoulder that just barley peeked out from under her short sleeve.

"Sakura, what's that?" Ino said pointing to her left shoulder.

"Nothing," the pink haired kunoichi replied pulling her sleeve down a little lower.

"Is that a tattoo? You guys really did it didn't you? You got into ANBU!?"

"Shhhh! Not so loud Ino-buta," she shushed back. ANBU members were supposed to be anonymous, but it was no secret among their friends that they had applied at the suggestion of Tsunade and Kakashi.

"Fine, Forehead! Be that way," Ino said turning to the guys for support, but finding none.

"Oi Naruto, Sakura, what will you have to drink?" asked Shikamaru quite ready to get the attention away from his noisy blonde teammate.

"Just the usual," replied Naruto, "Sakura?"

"Same here."

Shikamaru motioned to the waitress as Naruto and Sakura took seats opposite each other. Naruto sat on the same side of the booth next to Shikamaru. Sakura sat next to Ino. This left Choji and Sai up against the wall on the far side of the table. Choji had found the bowl of chips as usual. He was now more muscle than he was growing up making him look like a well built sumo wrestler. Sai just looked like an older version of his younger self, a little taller and a little more filled out. Shikamaru looked almost like a copy of his father, minus the scars.

"How's the arm?" Sai asked Naruto. He was sitting next to Ino who had her hand on his thigh, but he didn't really seem to notice.

"It's not as bad as it was. I like that stuff you gave me earlier to put on it," he replied.

"Naruto, when are you going to learn it isn't the cream that works so well? Mine still hurts like crazy." said his pink haired teammate. Her tattoo was starting to itch and she was trying not to touch it.

Naruto shot Sakura a look of amused affection out of the corner of his eye, but no one seemed to notice as the waitress was returning with their drinks. "Thanks," he said to the waitress before turning to Shikamaru. "So Shika, how's Temari?" Naruto asked with a fox like grin on his face.

Shikamaru had finally admitted that he had other reasons to take all those trips to Suna lately after Naruto's endless badgering for the last month. It seemed that he and Temari were getting serious and it was mutual because the Suna kunoichi was in Konoha almost as often as he was in Suna.

"She's fine, but I'm getting tired of making that troublesome trip across the desert. There's got to be an easier way…" he trailed off looking out a nearby window at a dark sky.

"Man, you've got it bad," teased Naruto. "So when are you going to talk her into moving to Konoha?"

"As soon as her brother, the Kazekage, feels he no longer needs her in Suna. At this rate that could be never," replied a rather frustrated Shikamaru. "She seems pretty content with how things are between us at the moment. Troublesome woman."

"You could ask her to marry you," interjected Choji in between mouthfuls.

"And risk the wrath of the Kazekage at the loss of his best Jounin? I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Troublesome woman," Shikamaru replied with a sweat drop. "How about you, Naruto? When are we going to see you get wrapped around a woman's finger?" the shadow user said changing the subject away from himself.

"Hehe, who knows," he laughed scratching the back of his head. Not even his close friends knew about him and Sakura. They had been dating in secret for the past four years in fear that Akatsuki or even the Hokage might find out and use it against him. It was no secret that Danzo didn't like the jinchuuriki and it wasn't beneath him to use anything he could to make Naruto's life miserable. He only let Naruto join ANBU because he thought it would make him easier to control.

"I thought you still had feelings for ugly here," Sai said referring to Sakura. Sakura blushed, but it was more because of the anger she felt at Sai's nickname for her than anything.

"Watch it pale face," she growled looking as if she would reach over Ino and punch him at any second. Sai leaned behind Ino a bit as if using her as a shield.

"Now, now, Forehead, I'm sure Sai was just opening his mouth to insert his foot as usual," Ino said trying to calm down her friend. It didn't pass her by that Sakura got upset pretty quick whenever Sai insulted Naruto, but then again it didn't take much to make Sakura angry these days.

"I read somewhere that when you like someone you are supposed to support them during an argument," Sai said looking down at the blonde haired kunoichi.

"Really Sai, I wouldn't have to keep supporting you if you found a book worth quoting," Ino replied.

"Don't worry about it, Sai. Sakura and I have an understanding. If neither one of us is seeing anyone by the time I'm Hokage we'll get married," Naruto said as his eyes danced.

"Of course he has to live to be Hokage, notwithstanding me killing him personally," she added trying her best to hide the tender look behind the glare she was shooting him. He just laughed and scratched the back of his head again.

"Don't tell me you are waiting for Sasuke-kun to return still," Ino gave her a look of disgust.

"No Ino, that dream ended long ago," she replied with a far off look in her eyes as she remembered her first kiss with Naruto. She took a sip of her drink hoping it would relax her just enough to put up with Ino tonight.

Ino motioned for her to get up so that she could get out of the booth and proceeded to drag Sakura off toward the bar. "Come on, Forehead. I need a refill," said Ino as she took Sakura by the arm pulling her away from the boys.

"Hello, Konoha to Sakura, where did you disappear to just now? There is something you're not telling me," pried the queen of gossip.

"No, it's nothing," Sakura said as she waved off her friends suspicion. The guys didn't seem to notice them leave and had fallen into a conversation of their own about women problems. Ino and Sakura could catch the occasional "troublesome woman" coming from Shikamaru's direction.

"Come on, you're definitely hiding something from me."

"OK, so maybe there has been someone else since my crush on Sasuke, but he's no one you know," she said trying her best to hide her annoyance with her persistent friend. It was getting harder and harder to hide her feelings for her blonde teammate, but she only did it because she wanted to protect someone precious to her.

"Finally! I knew you were hiding something from me. So, is he still in the picture?"

"No! He's old news." She could see Naruto glance at her out of the corner of her eye.

"So, is there anyone who is news?"

"No."

"Awe come on, Forehead, there has to be someone you like," Ino pouted. "Don't tell me you like Naruto?"

"Naruto is just too Naruto," Sakura sighed. "There hasn't been any time for dating, Ino, you know that. Between Akastuki, the Jounin exams, applying for ANBU, the hospital, and our regular missions I haven't had the time. You know better than anyone how much a slave driver Tsunade has been since losing her office as Hokage."

"Fine, fine. Don't think I'll let you off that easy though. You're turning into an old maid. Of course if you wait just a bit longer, Sai might be available," Ino confessed.

"I thought you and Sai were exclusive?"

"We are, but I don't know… There just isn't much of a connection anymore. Besides, I've met someone new."

"Oh?" Sakura asked taking another sip of her drink that she managed to grab from the table before being dragged away from it. Ino had been going through men like they were flavors of ice cream and Sai was only the most recent of her favorite flavors.

"He's a civilian, but he's quite the looker. Father had him over for an interview at the flower shop last week and there was just something about him."

"Ino, there is always 'just something' about your latest conquest. Anyway, why would I date Sai? There is just something so wrong about dating teammates," Sakura said looking bored. She loved Ino to death, but she was always so indecisive when it came to men. Not that long ago Ino thought there was 'just something' about her socially awkward teammate.

They could hear the music coming from the dance floor and it seemed that more and more people were leaving the booths to dance. Not too many things had been positive since Konoha had been rebuilt and Danzo was made Hokage, but they did have a few more night clubs added since being rebuilt and the younger generation of ninjas took advantage of this. Sakura could see Naruto coming toward them out of the corner of her eye.

"Care to dance?" Naruto said as he offered his hand to Sakura. She looked like she could use a break from Ino's badgering.

"I would love to," Sakura replied taking his hand. She shot a triumphant look over her shoulder at Ino as she had just been given an escape from their conversation.

"How come you never ask me to dance?" an annoyed Ino said shooting a glance at Sai as she walked back toward their table.

"Want to dance?" he asked almost out of defense.

"Thought you'd never ask," she said sarcastically.

Naruto guided Sakura to the dance floor as a slow song began to play. He put his arms around the waist of his "teammate" and she put her arms around his shoulders careful not to give into her urge to hold him close. They swayed gently to the music hoping the volume of the music would drown out their conversation.

"Sorry about Ino," Naruto began. "I hope she's not getting to you too much." He gazed into her jade eyes. The desire in his eyes conveying what he longed to tell her in words.

Sakura looked into his deep blue eyes. She could get lost in them so easily. She glanced down quickly hoping no one would notice how she had been looking at him. "It's OK, but she just makes me so mad with her constant flirting and questions about my love life as if she's waiving hers in my face."

"I promise you, Sakura, one day we won't have to hide anymore," he said flashing her his famous smile.

"Naruto, if you make any more promises you'll never have a day of rest as long as you live," she teased as she looked into his eyes. He couldn't help but laugh at how cute she looked when she looked at him like that. She truly made him the happiest man alive no matter what was going on in the world around them at the moment.

Naruto saw Sai and Ino making their way toward them on the dance floor and he stiffened up. Sakura noticed his reaction and looked in the direction he was looking in. Seeing her rival in all things she knew why he had reacted the way he did. If Ino even suspected for one second that they liked each other more than teammates, it could be all over. It was no secret that the queen of gossip could spread news rather quickly and there was no telling what Danzo would do if he found out.

"Naruto, I didn't know you could dance," teased Ino as they danced beside them.

"I'm not called the world's most surprising ninja for nothing, Ino."

"Hey Sakura, switch with me. I want to make sure I'm not caught in someone's genjutsu," she said rather flirtatiously toward Naruto.

Sakura looked into Naruto's face and he nodded to let her know that it was OK. She released her hold on him and she reluctantly switched partners with Ino.

"Don't you mind, Sai?" she asked once she was in Sai's arms. He was surprisingly holding his own on the dance floor.

"Not much. Whatever Ino wants, Ino gets," he looked at his former dance partner almost with a hint of regret in his eyes. The music picked up and Naruto moved to twirl Ino around to the beat of the music.

"Sai, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were jealous," teased Sakura sarcastically.

"I read in a book that a man should feel jealous when one's girlfriend flirts with other men, but to tell you the truth, I don't think Ino and I are meant to be," he said calmly.

Sakura was a little taken aback at her teammate's confession but decided to change the subject. Truthfully, it made her feel a little awkward learning of her friend's failing relationship. They danced until the song ended then both couples walked back to sit down at their table. Shikamaru had ordered another round of drinks for all of them and he was obviously in the mood to celebrate tonight for the success of his friends making it into ANBU. Sakura couldn't help but notice the half hearted flirting going on between Ino and Sai. She almost wished that she could just put them both out of their misery, but decided it wasn't her place to say anything. It was best just to let those two work it out in their own time.

The rest of the guys didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary and Sakura decided to shrug it off and join in on the fun. As the evening progressed, the guys seemed pretty well "relaxed" and to everyone's surprise Choji was hitting it off on the dance floor with several of the regular girls. Sakura always thought of him as a great big teddy bear and it never occurred to her that he might actually be dating material. Naruto was also a favorite on the dance floor as several girls seemed to have their sights set on him. Sakura had to admit he had grown up to be quiet the eye candy. That black turtle neck hugged his well defined muscles just right and she was having a hard time not staring at him as it was. It was also hard hiding her jealousy at all the attention the fan girls were giving him, but he seemed oblivious to their advances and she knew where his loyalties lied.

"Naruto seems to be enjoying himself," Shikamaru said turning to Sakura. Ino and Sai had once again hit the dance floor leaving just Sakura and Shikamaru at their table. He looked rather bored and Sakura was sure it had to do with the absence of a certain Suna kunoichi.

"Yeah, he still can't get use to all the attention he gets from the fan girls now. We were all busy with Sasuke growing up and he has admitted to being a little lost as to what to do with the attention," she laughed as she saw a pair of girls arguing over who was the next to dance with him. He just stood back and scratched his head obviously looking rather clueless as the two girls argued over him. "Excuse me," Sakura said as she got up from the table. She had had enough of the fan girls and went to go rescue her boyfriend.

"Naruto, I believe I was next," she said side stepping the surprised pair as she walked into his arms.

"Gladly," he said sweeping her up as they moved away to the beat of the music leaving the fan girls frustrated and fuming. "Thank you," he said looking rather relieved at her arrival.

"No problem. You rescued me once already tonight and I figured I'd return the favor," she replied. He spun her around to the music and she felt a little light headed. She couldn't tell if it was the alcohol finally getting to her, or the rush of emotion she felt whenever she was in his arms. Oh if only it was just the two of them out there on the dance floor…

"Sakura, tell me something, do you think we did the right thing joining ANBU?"

"I don't see why there is any reason not to be. I thought you wanted to be in ANBU?"

"I did, I mean I do. It's just that something has been bugging me since this morning. The Hokage seemed rather happy while he watched us get our tattoos and uniforms. There is just something about his expression that seems out of place. I just can't put my finger on it."

"Tsunade never did trust that man, but I'm sure its fine and you were just imagining things. Besides, how else are you going to get the experience you need before becoming Hokage. Even Kakashi was insistent that the people follow their leader better when he's been through the same experiences as those he leads."

"True, true. I have you by my side, so I guess whatever comes our way we can deal with it together," he said smiling down at her with the smile he reserved only for her.

She could feel her face flush from the attention he was giving her. No matter what, she had the hardest time hiding her feelings for him in public. Even after years of practice he could still make her lose control of them at the drop of a hat. The song ended and they moved back to their table where Shikamaru was still sitting. He always said it was too "troublesome" to dance and was content to sit and watch his friends make fools of themselves.

"Guys, I think I'm going to call it a night. We have to report early in the morning and I would like to get some sleep before then," Sakura said as she put her share of the tab on the table.

"I'll walk you home. You never know what kinds of wierdo's are out there this time of night," Naruto offered as he tossed a few ryu of his own on the table.

"I hope you aren't referring to yourself, baka," Sakura teased. "Tell Temari 'hi' for me next time you see her."

"Night guys," Shikamaru said not seeming to mind being left to his thoughts.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto whined as they moved toward the exit. "Did you have to go that far?" he said referring to being called a weirdo.

"You know I love you right?" she replied giving him the cutest innocent look she could manage while being under the influence of several drinks.

"I'm beginning to wonder," he shot back sarcastically. She just rolled her eyes and turned in the direction of her apartment. She was glad she had moved out of her parents house a couple of years ago and it made life a lot easier when she didn't have to explain to her parents about how much time she spent with Naruto outside of missions and training. When they reached her door she just barely managed to get out her key before she felt arms snake around her waist.

"Naruto, what are you doing?"

"I can't help it. You just look too damn sexy in that skirt."

"Well, you could at least wait until we get inside," she said as she unlocked the door. Once opened they ducked inside and closed it behind them, Naruto wasted no time in placing kisses on the exposed skin on her neck. Sakura let out a moan of pleasure and turned around to face him. His lips met hers and they locked passionately. Sakura's hands moved up to cup his cheeks and he made soft moans as she stroked the whisker marks there. He couldn't resist the rush that having his whiskers stroked gave him and he deepened the kiss only ending it to come up for air. They were both left panting from the rush of emotion and endorphins as they looked into each others eyes in the moonlight that came in through the window.

"You know I can't control myself when you do that Sakura-chan," Naruto said looking deep in her jade green eyes. She could tell he was excited by the way his voice wavered. "If we aren't careful there is no telling what I might do."

"Why do you think I do it then?" she said returning his gaze. No matter how hard she tried, she always felt like she could drown in those deep blues. "Besides, I need to make sure that you aren't thinking of any of those little fan girls that were all over you tonight."

"Sakura, you know those girls mean nothing to me. They are just good cover so that no one sees how crazy I am about you," he said as he started to work his way down her neck in gentle kisses. If her stroking his whiskers was what drove him wild, it was him kissing her neck like this that made her lose all self control. She had to take a deep breath to regain her composer before pushing him back a step so that she could look in his eyes.

"Naruto, as much as I love it when you do that, I was serious when I said I need sleep before tomorrow. I don't want to be half asleep during our first mission in ANBU." Her expression was deadly serious as she spoke and he sighed in defeat.

"Alright. I'll restrain myself this time. However, next time you tease me like that you might not be so lucky," he said giving her a look that was full of lust and mischief. He gave her one last passionate kiss before turning to go. "I love you," he said as he made to open her door.

She stopped him before he could turn the handle and got up on her tip toes and gave him one last passionate kiss in return. "I love you, too."

He brushed some of her pink bangs off of her face and he was gone before another moment passed leaving her alone in her entry way. Sakura let out a deep sigh and removed her heals. 'Maybe I should have made him stay long enough to rub my feet. They are killing me,' she thought to herself, 'although, there is no telling how much sleep I would have ended up with.'

She walked off toward her bathroom to get ready for bed the same moment as a blonde outside looked up toward her window. "Aishiteru, Sakura-chan," he said under his breath before walking off toward his own apartment.

End Chapter 1


	2. First Mission & An Old Friend

Thanks for all the favorites and alerts I've received in the past week. They all made my day, whatever day that was ;D

Thanks for the reviews too. Thanks to icekrim91, Terminatorman100, Habu2010, and Gravenimage. Yes, there is much more to come.

Please feel free to read and review. All of my stories are linked, but I try not to make random references too often.

All jutsu in this story are either from the Manga or from Koga-ryu ninja article from Wikipedia. I thought ANBU needed a little more traditional jutsu out there, but don't ask me how they really do it, I don't know. Sakura's mask ended up a little like the one Ladygt93 has on her deviant art page. I didn't mean to make it like that, it just happened that way.

**All Naruto characters belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto****. The story is only about what could be.**

ANBU Gaiden

Chapter 2:

Naruto and Sakura met with the other new ANBU recruits the very next morning for their meeting before their first mission. They were all in the standard ANBU gear consisting of a black sleeveless turtle neck, black pants and boots, gray armored vest and arm protectors. Each member had a short sword on their back much like the one Sai normally wore. Everyone had their masks on and even here they did not know the identity of their fellow ANBU members other than by their code names and by what mask they wore. Naruto had chosen a nondescript mask with a single orange diamond shape over the left eye. Sakura had picked a mask that looked more like a jungle cat with small pointy ears and three red whiskers on each cheek. There were a total of nine rookies in their group and they assumed their new taicho was the veteran ANBU wearing the white cloak. There was one other ANBU member in the room and Sakura knew it was Sai. She had accidentally found his mask once when they had been hanging out at his apartment. He had been ordered back to ANBU six months ago. Sai had mentioned something about the Hokage reorganizing black ops but he never stated the obvious that Danzo was mixing in more ROOT members into leadership positions once held by members loyal to Tsunade.

Their new unit commander spoke in a low, quiet voice. It must have served him well on missions. "As of today you are members of ANBU Black Ops. You no longer have an identity as soon as you put that mask on. You are a tool and will be used as such. Emotions, feelings, bonds, family, and friends _do not_ matter here. All that matters is the mission. You will put what's best for Konoha ahead of every one of your priorities. You will do whatever it takes to get the mission done. There will be no questioning of authority. You will be receiving training during the mission in various techniques ranging from interrogation to elemental. Each team will consist of four members much like the teams you have been use to. There will be one veteran ANBU member per three rookies. This first mission will be explained to you by your taicho. Any question concerning the mission will be directed towards them. I will now assign you to your new teams."

Sakura could tell that Naruto wasn't too happy with the little speech he just heard and she could tell by the way his muscles tensed in his bare shoulders that he was fighting back his emotions. She didn't like the "tool" analogy any better than her teammate and she knew that he was reminded of Haku. Sai had warned them both before the meeting that it was better to keep one's mouth shut than risk discipline. This was going to be very hard for Naruto to overcome his emotions. Maybe this was why Tsunade and Kakashi had suggested that they join.

Their taicho brought in three veteran ANBU agents and quickly split them up into their new units. Fortunately for them, Sakura and Naruto were on the same team. Their taicho was a short yet rather muscular man with spiky brown hair that had an almost grey tint to it. Their other teammate was a tall male with red hair. Their new taicho didn't waist much time explaining their first mission. It was an intelligence mission and they were to sneak into a neighboring village and find out the required information then report back as soon as possible. It seemed easy enough, but they were going to work on improving their Shinobi-irijutsu (Stealth and Entering Methods Art) and Jouhou Kaishuu (Information Gathering). They were now rookie team 3 and it was time to move out.

Their taicho briefed them on the jutsu that they were going to use while racing through the tree tops on the way to their destination village. Sakura looked up at Naruto as he jumped from a branch higher than hers. The muscles in his arms were tense and she knew he was taking this new role as a member of ANBU seriously. Before long they were at the edge of the village. They were to wait until the cover of darkness before beginning their infiltration. This allowed them a little time to read over the jutsu scrolls that they were given when they arrived at ANBU headquarters that morning. They sat in silence, which seemed to be the standing order between members of ANBU. It made it easier to break bonds if they were never formed in the first place.

As soon as it was dark, their taicho motioned for them to follow him. He motioned to Sakura to approach the building first, followed by the red headed man and Naruto came last. Sakura proceeded to use one of the new jutsu to open the locks of one of the upstairs windows and let her team enter the building ahead of her. Once inside Naruto and the red head kept watch while Sakura found the cabinet that held the information they needed. She pulled the scrolls from their resting place and opened them on a nearby table. She pulled out some blank ones of her own and proceeded to go through a series of hand signs. This allowed her to perfectly copy the information from the original documents to the blank scrolls. She silently signaled to her teammates when she was completed and her taicho checked her work before they resealed the scrolls and returned them in the exact manner in which they were originally stored. Naruto helped her gather up the scrolls and he watched while his team retreated out the window. It was on to the next building where it was Naruto's turn to practice the same jutsu that Sakura had just used on both the locks and documents. This kept them busy for the rest of the night until they took turns retrieving all of the information that the Hokage had required.

Once they returned to headquarters, they turned over all their information to their unit commander and they were allowed to return home once their own mission reports were completed. No one said "good job" as they turned in their reports. It was just show up, do your job, and go home. This was going to take some getting used to.

After changing back into their everyday cloths, Naruto was waiting for Sakura outside the woman's locker room. She could tell he had a lot on his mind. Truthfully, Sakura had a lot she needed to process as well.

"Care to join me?" he said as she fell in step beside him. "I was going to Ichiraku's before heading home. It's already past lunch time and these solider pills they gave us are not keeping my appetite down at all."

"Only if you pay," she said shooting him up a teasing smile. He chuckled at their long time inside joke. He had promised a long time ago that he would pay whenever he dragged her to Ichiraku's but she liked to rub it in that he had refused once and ended up eating alone.

They walked along for a while not saying anything. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but they both had a lot to process after their first few days on the job. Sakura was the first to break their silence. "So, what did you think about yesterday's mission?"

"I think it is going to take some getting used to, dattebayo," he said looking down at her. She could tell that holding in his exuberant nature was draining for him emotionally by the way he was looking at her. "The work is manageable enough right now, but it may take a while to become what they seem to want us to be. I wonder if Tsunade-baachan ever had it quite that emotionless when she was Hokage."

"I remember watching her talk to her agents when I was at her office every day. There was definitely a tradition of anonymity, but they still seemed like humans; now they remind me of Sai when we first met him. No wonder Sai seemed so reluctant to go back."

They had reached Ichiraku's at this point in the conversation and Naruto was just glad to get some real food in his stomach. He ordered one large miso ramen with the works. However, Sakura wasn't feeling that hungry so she only ordered a small tempura ramen. Naruto noticed this and he knew very well that she had a hard time eating when she was stressed.

"I take it I'm not the only one with a lot on my mind," he said pointing to her small meal.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, I'm just not feeling that hungry today. Maybe I'll go do a little training before I head home."

He knew when she was going to do a "little training" that she was in the mood to destroy a small mountain.

"Do you want someone to train with? I'm not really that tired and I could use a little practice on some of the new jutsu they're teaching us."

"No, I think I need to train alone today. Thanks for the offer though." She looked down at her meal before she continued, "Maybe we could meet after dinner time and do something other than work related activities. I'm not all that tired and I think I'll just go to bed at my normal time." She looked up and gave him a tender smile.

Naruto seemed to relax at the idea of doing something with Sakura later and he outwardly return to his old smiley self. "Sounds like a plan to me," he said flashing her that famous grin of his.

Sakura finished her meal and got up to leave. No matter how hard they denied their feelings for each other in public, it didn't make it any easier to just walk away from each other. She bid him a quick farewell and headed toward the training grounds. Naruto longingly watched her back as she left and it didn't go unnoticed by Ayame who was behind the counter.

"Naruto, when are you going to get serious about Sakura?" she asked while she leaned over the counter.

"Hee? What do you mean by that Ayame-neechan?" he exclaimed, eyes wide in surprise. He always remembered to bury his feelings around other ninja, but he had forgotten just now in front of the ramen mistress.

"I saw the way you were looking at her. I've worked here long enough to know what a man looks like when he's dreaming after a certain woman," she said with a glimmer in her eye. She knew she was right and there was no easy way for him to deny it. In fact, she had seen that same look in her husband's eyes many, many times.

"Ayame-neechan, it's no secret that I've liked Sakura since we were little. There is just no way for me to do anything about it right now," he said giving her the white lie.

"And why not?" She wasn't going to let this go easily. She must have picked up some scolding tricks from Iruka. She and Iruka had just had their first child six months ago after all.

"It's just complicated. Right now just isn't a good time to start anything," he said looking down at his bowl. "By the way, can I get another ramen?"

"Sure. Don't think this is the end of our conversation though. If you waste any more time there's never going to be a good time to start anything."

She didn't realize how right she was; which reminded him he had planned on going to the jewelry store after work before Sakura had managed to distract him. He was brought back to the present when she brought him his second bowl of the day. He let out a big sigh before starting. This time he was lucky that Ayame didn't notice.

"Naruto? Is that you?" he heard someone call from the street behind him.

Naruto turned around to see a tall rather shapely brunette with olive green eyes standing behind him. "Yakumo? I haven't seen you for a really long time. Kurenai-sensei said that you had moved to another village with the rest of the Kuramo clan," he said getting up to greet her. He was surprised that she gave him a great big hug out of the blue.

"I was hoping that I'd run into you, Naruto. I was in town visiting Kurenai-sensei and she said that you might be here." She looked up at him with a tender look that surprised him a little. Yakumo was only a little taller than Sakura, but she seemed to almost be eye to eye with him. He nervously pushed her back a step as he was feeling a little awkward.

"Ne, how have you been?" he said nervously. All the ninja training in the world still did nothing to help him when it came to dealing with women. It didn't help when he couldn't play the girlfriend card as much as he really wanted to.

"I've been good. I've been training in genjutsu with my clan, but I had family business in the village so I thought I'd drop by to say 'hi' while I was here."

"Ano, I was just finishing up lunch. Would you care to join me?" he said out of politeness more than anything.

"Sure," she said as they ducked back inside Ichiraku's. Ayame gave him a questioning look but didn't say anything as she took Yakumo's order. Yakumo ordered some ramen and they fell into a pleasant conversation. She seemed a little flirtatious to Naruto, but he had fan girls now whenever they went to the clubs, so he wasn't completely oblivious to her advances. Oh how he wished Sakura, or anyone for that matter, would come rescue him right about now.

They finished their meal and it seemed that Yakumo wanted to visit with him a little longer so he decided it was only polite to walk around town with her. She had actually grown up to be a well rounded person and surprisingly good company. They did share similarities of being alone when they were little and that helped give them a basis for conversation. He had only seen her a couple of other times since he had met her back before he left to train with Jiraiya, but he hadn't noticed until now that she seemed to want to get to know him as more than a passing acquaintance.

They passed by the Yamanaka flower shop and he saw Ino working behind the counter. Ino spotted him and waved to him and he nervously waved back. Maybe he shouldn't have taken this road. Naruto was sure that Ino would be talking to Sakura later about seeing him with an unknown girl. Yakumo saw something in a nearby art store window and pulled him toward it unwillingly. Of course Ino missed none of this and was watching with interest.

"So, how long are you going to be in town?" he asked.

"I'm leaving this afternoon. Family business doesn't allow for me to stay very long," she replied. She was looking at a display of art supplies as he spoke.

'That's good to hear, dattebayo,' he thought to himself. "I take it you still paint?"

"A little. My family has helped me to find other outlets for my genjutsu."

They toured around Konoha until it was time for her to go. She left him after giving him a great big hug that he nervously returned. He decided that maybe he had had enough shopping for one day and that doing a "little training" sounded like a good idea. When Sakura hears Ino's point of view it could cause trouble for him later.

* * *

"Sit still would you! I swear it's true what they say; doctors really do make the worst patience," Ino said as she wrapped Sakura's very bloody left hand. "Why didn't you go get this taken care of at the hospital instead of coming to me?"

"Because, you don't scold quite as loud as Shiso does. As long as I can pull my glove over it, no one will know that it's bandaged," Sakura replied. She had apparently done a little damage to one of the training grounds and had gotten a little beat up in return. Sakura was covered from head to toe in dirt from her afternoon of training. "Ouch!"

"Didn't you wear any gloves while you were redesigning the training grounds," Ino said with a smirk.

"Yes mom, I guess I need a new pair of gloves," she replied sarcastically. Sakura winced as Ino finished taping the last of the bandage to her hand.

"There, all done. By the way, you'll never guess who I saw this afternoon with a new girl on his arm," she said sing-songing the last half of her news.

"Let me guess, Choji?" Sakura said in a lame attempt to play along.

"No, but good guess. I hear he met someone at the club after you guys left the other night. Guess again."

"Shino?"

"You are so far off it's pathetic, Forehead," Ino said in triumph.

"Fine Ino-buta, who is it?"

"Naruto! He had this very tall and _sexy_ babe on his arm and they were walking around town together in plain sight of _everyone_," Ino said. She was obviously having fun waving this little piece of news in front of Sakura.

"Naruto? Now why should I believe you? He's not seeing anyone," Sakura replied having a hard time keeping the blood from rushing into her face.

"Oh but he is now, Forehead."

"Ino, I know Naruto and I know that there is no one he is interested in seeing. We are on the same team and I had lunch with him today. I think I know a thing or two about his personal life." Sakura was getting a little frustrated with Ino, but she wasn't ready to admit to herself that Naruto could have been with another woman after she left.

"Are you jealous, Forehead?" Ino smirked as she could see this little bit of news was indeed having an effect on her friend's composure.

"Why should I care if he likes someone else? Actually it would be a relief if he did find someone else. Then he wouldn't keep asking me out on dates all the time."

"I didn't know he still asked you out on dates. Anyway, the way she was looking at him sure didn't leave any room for the imagination as far as what _her_ intentions were."

"Ino, you are so full of it. I won't believe a word of it until I hear it from Naruto," she said snobbishly as she gathered up her things. If Ino was trying to get a reaction from her it was starting to work because she felt like she needed to leave now before she tore apart the flower shop. "Tell you what, I'll just go find him right now and ask him. Then, I'll let you know if we hear wedding bells in Naruto's future, OK?"

"Fine, Forehead. Don't believe me. Hey, will I still see you tomorrow after work? I heard Temari will be in town and I wanted to have some of the girls over while she's here. We can't let Shika monopolize her, now can we?"

"Hai, Hai. I'll need a chance to go home and clean up first. I guess we're going to be working on surveillance techniques and that may require hiding in places I'd rather not be in."

"The more you talk about ANBU the more I don't think I want to join. Later, Forehead."

"Ja na, Ino-buta."

Sakura left the Yamanaka flower shop and headed home. She looked down at her bandaged hand and decided maybe she should pick up a new pair of gloves first. It always seemed that as soon as she broke in a pair of gloves that they would fall apart and she would have to get a new pair. Then, after a long hot shower maybe she should go track down her wayward teammate. What Ino had said had rattled her a little bit. She trusted Naruto, but she didn't trust this "sexy babe" Ino had seen him with.

* * *

"Naruto?" Sakura called as she opened up the door to his apartment. He hadn't answered the door when she knocked and he had given her a key back when they were teens just in case and she wasn't afraid to use it. No one was home and it didn't look like he been back home since they got off work. In fact, his place was starting to look very much like a true bachelor's pad again. "Yuck," she murmured as she looked around; her nose wrinkled in disgust. He usually kept it fairly clean for her sake, but this week had been crazy enough that apparently he hadn't had the energy to put away his cloths and even his dishes. She was about to leave when she turned around to see him standing right behind her; startling her.

"Sakura-chan? I thought we were meeting after dinner?" he asked. He seemed pleasantly surprised but a little embarrassed at the same time. He was hoping to find his floor before she came over.

"Naruto! Don't do that! You scared the crap out of me!" she said putting her hand on her heart which was now beating rather fast.

"Are you sure you're in ANBU?" he teased. He shut the door before giving her a kiss on the lips.

"Ha ha very funny!" She obviously wasn't in the mood for being teased after her little talk with Ino.

"Hey, is something wrong?" he said looking at her for clues as to why she was so touchy.

"I'll be fine in a minute when I pound you for making my heart leap into my throat," she said while pulling back a fist as if to hit him.

"I love you too," he said as he walked around her and started clearing a path on the floor. "Care to sit and tell me what's going on with you?" He tossed his cloths into his bedroom and sat down on the couch.

Sakura let out a sigh and sat down next to him. He pulled her into him and leaned back on the couch. She was so tired having not slept since the day before yesterday that she allowed herself to fall back into him.

"Let me guess, did you see Ino this afternoon?" he asked.

"How did you know?"

"Well, I just had a feeling. That and you're hand is bandaged and I know how you don't like to go to the hospital if you can avoid it," he said as he rested his cheek on the top of her head.

"She told me she saw you with another woman," she finally confessed. "I trust you, Naruto, but she was talking like the woman was all over you and I guess I got a little upset."

"Thank you for trusting me. Yes I did walk past the flower shop today and I was with a woman, but it was all one sided flirting, believe me," he said while running his hand up and down Sakura's arm. "Actually, it was Yakumo. You remember that girl that Kurenai-sensei worked with when we were genin. She ran into me at Ichiraku's after you left and she wanted to talk. To tell you the truth, I think she's got a crush on me, dattebayo."

"I knew Ino was full of it. I guess I'm not the only one who finds you sexy now, huh?" Sakura said playing with the design on his jacket as her head rested on his shoulder.

"But this sexy is all yours, believe it!" he said before giving her a kiss on the top of her head.

She just had to laugh at his childish phrase. Sakura knew he was all hers, she just had been taking it for granted until recently.

End Chapter 2


	3. Strength

Thanks for all the favorites and alerts and thanks for the reviews too. Thanks to Satyanasia420, wind797, Habu2010, and Gravenimage. I always love hearing the reviews, as do we all.

Read and review.

All jutsu in this story are either from the Manga or from Koga-ryu ninja article from Wikipedia.

**All Naruto characters belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto****. The story is only about what could be, but it was fun trying to figure it out.

* * *

**

I've been afraid of changing because I built my life around you-Fleetwood Mac

My hands are strong, I know. But they're not yours, they are my own …and I'm never broken.-Jewel

* * *

ANBU Gaiden

Chapter 3

Sakura lay in bed half asleep and not really wanting to get up. It was their day off and yesterday had been a hard one emotionally and physically. She was replaying memories of their battle as it had made her think about things she would rather forget.

_Flashback:_

_Their mission was against a group of missing ninja, A-class, that had escaped from the Hidden Mist village's prison. Their ANBU team was able to locate them before they were very far within the borders of Fire country. There had been nine in all and it was apparent as soon as they found these rouges that there was a reason they were able to escape from a maximum security ninja prison. It seemed a genjutsu user had been the ring leader and the other eight were a combination of sword and senbon users he had met while in prison._

_They were flying at top speed through the trees following their Taicho. He gave the motion to surround the Mist ninja. Naruto made his signature kinjutsu handsign and four copies of him appeared. Dropping down through the branches of the trees, he had quickly surrounded the last five rouge ninja. All five Narutos were kicking, blocking and punching the Mist cons faster than the normal human eye could follow. _

_Sakura dropped down and took on a rather lanky looking man who was at the front of the group as they spun to a stop. _

_"Leaf ANBU huh?" he asked as his words dripped with disdain._

_Sakura said nothing, but started to build chakra up in her right fist, readying for her attack. She could see her Taicho take on two cons to her right and the tall red head went for the two on the left side of the leader. She could sense senbon coming her direction only to have Naruto appear directly behind her, taking them in the back before disappearing in a puff of smoke. She returned her focus to the man in front of her as he suddenly gave her a sickening smile before fading before her eyes._

_She felt herself blinking her eyes trying to focus on his chakra signature, but she couldn't sense it anywhere. Through the haze, she could see two figures facing off against each other. Familiar images flashed before her eyes, images she dreaded, a future she wanted to avoid…_

_"Kai!" she yelled out._

_The images disappeared as she was once again in front of the lanky man who had a dissatisfied expression on his face._

_"I'm not that easy to fool. SHANNARO!" she cried her familiar battle cry as she pulled her fist back; releasing her full power into the abdomen of the man before her. _

_Naruto soon had his five either knocked out or injured to the point they could no longer resist arrest. They had been a handful, but nothing he couldn't handle with his speed and strength. In fact, he only had to use one rasengan since his other skills in wind manipulation and speed had greatly improved over the past four years. Their other two teammates made quick work of the other four. _

_It wasn't long before the hunter nin arrived to pick up their missing prisoners, only exchanging nods as the prisoner's were transferred to their care. Sakura had killed the leader, so the remaining 8 cons were easily led away, at least the ones that could still walk that is._

_As they made their way back towards Konoha, she could tell Naruto was a little worried about her as he kept looking back in her direction as they jumped through the treetops. They were always very quiet during the missions, but she knew he could read her body language enough to know that something was bothering her. But, he knew better than to ask until they were at home and alone._

_End Flashback:_

Sakura lay there on her bed staring at the ceiling. She knew in her head that genjutsu targeted the fears and insecurities of your own mind, but her heart still was having trouble getting over the images she had seen that looked much like a snapshot of the battle on the hospital roof, but the images of the two were as men and not boys. Still she had seen them charging; Naruto with a resen-shuriken and Sasuke with a chidori laced sword. What haunted her was that she had seen herself run to stop them and feared what would have happened had she not released the jutsu. They were unable to stop the first time. It would have been suicide for her to try and stop them a second time.

She was still deep in thought when the sound of someone tapping on her window startled her. It was Naruto. He preferred to tap at her window as opposed to using the door this early in the morning. If he was up before her it could only mean that something had been on his mind too.

"Ne Sakura-chan, open up," he said while sitting on the railing of her balcony that was next to her open bedroom window.

"Naruto, what are you doing here at this hour?" she asked as she leaned up on her elbows, trying to forget the images in her mind. It was comforting to see him there before her eyes and very much alive.

"I thought maybe you could use some company for breakfast before we go train," he said with a nervous smile.

"You don't have anything to eat again do you," she said as she got out of bed and walked toward the window. "Meet me in the living room. I don't want footprints all over my bed like the ones you left last time."

"Yes ma'am," he said rather flirtatiously, shooting her the smile he reserved for her. He couldn't help but notice how good she looked in just a tank top and pajama pants.

Naruto left his gear on the balcony before coming in to her small living room. Sakura only had enough room for a coffee table and couch in here since she had opted for a larger kitchen area over seating. She was either at Ino's or Naruto so entertainment space hadn't been much of a need when she had chosen this place. Besides, her group of friends was large enough that if they all wanted to get together they usually just crashed at the Nara residence. Fortunately, Shikamaru's mom didn't seem to mind since the girls usually ended up being helpful in the kitchen where they could talk about the boys without worrying about them coming into the sacred kitchen of the Nara matron during the middle of a conversation.

"So, what brings you here this early besides lack of food?" Sakura asked over her shoulder as she started to raid her fridge for breakfast food. She didn't have much food either since they had just come back from a mission; it looked like they would be having miso soup and rice for breakfast.

"You," he said wrapping his arms around her waist as she set the food on the counter. Sakura let out a little gasp as he nuzzled her hair that fell against her neck. "I've been worried about you since that last battle. There is something wrong when you're that quiet."

"It's nothing much. Just something I saw while I was caught in that genjutsu. I told you that yesterday," she said trying to brush off his worry.

"But you didn't tell me what you saw. I have a feeling that it has something to do with us," he said as he started to move her hair away from her neck giving him access so that he could place little kisses on it.

"Keep that up, baka and I'll forget what it was that I saw," she moaned as she leaned back into his warm body.

"Good, but I still want to know before you forget."

"Has anyone told you that you're stubborn?"

"All the time. So?" he said as he pulled her around so that she could face him.

"You remember your fight on the roof of the hospital?" she said looking up into his deep blue eyes. She noticed that his hair was getting long enough that she was going to have to cut it soon.

"Which one?"

"Not with me! The first one."

"I see," he said knowing now that she was thinking about his battle with Sasuke. "So you saw me and Sasuke fighting again. You do realize there is a good chance of that happening again right?"

"I know. I think it was the thought of being weak and in the way that has been bugging me. I don't want you to risk your life if I'm not able to be right there by your side."

She looked away from his gaze and he had to pull her back into his gaze with a knuckle under her chin. Instead of responding to her fears he pulled her into a deep kiss. She dropped the package of wakame that she had still been holding and put her arms all the way around his muscular back. She fisted his shirt as he pulled her even closer, arousing her desire. They spent several minutes in their embrace before he pulled away. He took one of her hands and placed it over his rapidly beating heart. He place her other hand on his flushed cheek.

"Sakura, can you feel that?"

She nodded her head in response.

"That is the power you have over me. Without your love for me I wouldn't be able to do what I do. You are the strength behind my motivation. Don't you dare fool yourself into believing that you are weak or in the way. I've never known anyone stronger or surer of herself than you. Sakura look at me. I love you and I want you by my side no matter what. Understand?"

She nodded her response before giving him a teasing look. "Have you been taking lessons from Tsunade in giving lectures?" she teased.

"Sakura, I've been given so many lectures I think I've just absorbed it over the years," he said with a Cheshire cat grin. His stomach started to growl as he gazed into her jade green eyes.

"Hungry?" she said remembering she was trying to make breakfast at one point.

"Yes."

* * *

The hot summer sun was blazing high over head while three people could be seen on training ground number 3. Sakura had a devious look on her face as she slammed her fist into the ground in front of her. A small earthquake broke up the ground in an area about 20 meters in diameter. Naruto back flipped out of the way as the ground that was once beneath his feet was turned into fissures. Three inky snakes climbed up her legs and wrapped themselves around her body; locking her arms against it.

"I see your plan!" she yelled before she became just a puff of smoke and a log in her place.

"Replacement jutsu. Sai you're too slow," Naruto scolded.

"Gomen," said the art jutsu user as he walked up to join Naruto. Sakura had disappeared completely from sight leaving her two training partners wondering what to do next. "She's getting good at that chameleon jutsu isn't she?"

"Yes, she is. Cover me," he said as he took a deep breath and entered a meditative state. He looked up a moment later as his eyes had a red tint around the eye lids and his iris' had turned yellow and frog like. "She's over there, behind that large boulder."

"She's not going to let you live long if you keep cheating like that," Sai commented.

"Sai, we're ninja. We're supposed to cheat. Get ready," he said crouching into a defensive position, Sai standing behind him.

They felt the earth rumble beneath them but nothing happened for a second. Suddenly, the ground crumbled out from under their feet and they both fell about 8 meters down into a trap in the training grounds. Sakura walked up and peered over the edge of the large hole and just grinned at them maliciously.

"Sakura? How did you…? When did you…?" Naruto stumbled out his questions.

"Kakashi-sensei mentioned a long time ago that this area was once used to teach trap jutsu and escape jutsu. After enough years of training I've learned how dense the ground is by the sound it makes when I hit it. I just let you think you were at a safe distance from me before I sprung the trap," she gleamed.

"OK, you win. Now help us up," Naruto demanded.

"Nope. You're big strong ANBU, you figure it out," she taunted.

"As you wish," he said before she could feel a kunai at her back.

"When did you..?" she asked. It was now her turn to be surprised.

"At about the same time you did the replacement jutsu," he laughed. "Now you owe us lunch."

"OK, but we are _not_ eating at Ichiraku's," she huffed.

"Sakura-chan, you're so mean," he whined. He and Sai both disappeared in a puff of smoke before reappearing next to Sakura. Naruto released the clone at that same moment. "Let's go. I'm starving."

"As fun as lunch sounds, I'll see you two later," Sai said turning to pick up his scroll that he had dropped when they had fallen into the hole. "I've got a meeting to go to. I'll see you tomorrow at headquarters."

"Later Sai," Naruto said before Sai disappeared in a swirl of black ink.

'That was weird. Where is Sai off to?' Sakura thought to herself. "So are you ready for lunch?"

"Sakura, now that we are alone, I'd much rather spend time with you," he flirted.

"Naruto, are you sure it's alright? How do we know that no one will see us?" she asked.

Naruto just pointed to his eye.

"OK, Great Sage, how about you try to catch me first?" she said before disappearing from his sight.

"No fair Sakura-chan," he whined taking off after her. Good thing he could sense her chakra or they were going to have a late lunch.

* * *

Later that same afternoon, Kiba and Akamaru were walking down the street in the shopping district part of Konoha. They were headed towards the nicest jewelry store in the village when he saw Naruto exiting the building.

"Naruto?" Kiba said rather shocked to see Naruto coming out of a store like this. "Man, what are you doing here?"

Naruto had been lost in his thoughts when he came out of the store and hadn't expected to see Kiba just then.

"Uh, oh you know…," he shrugged a response, trying to sound disinterested like Kakashi.

"Naruto, what could a guy like you be doing in a jewelry store like this without a good reason?" Kiba's nose was good enough to sense that his friend smelled nervous.

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied.

Kiba let out a nervous sigh as the rock by his shoe began to look rather interesting. "Awe, come on. I guess I'll show you. I have something to pick up."

"Oh?"

Kiba was followed by Naruto as they went into the store; Akamaru, like any good nin-dog, lay down outside the door.

"May I help you sir?" said the store owner behind the counter.

"I'm here to pick up my order. I'm Inuzuka Kiba."

"Ah yes, I'll be right back," he said as he disappeared into the back room.

"So what did you get?" Naruto asked.

"You'll see."

"Here it is sir. There must be something in the air with you young men today. You are the second one today…," the owner started, but Naruto shook his head sending the owner the signal that he didn't want Kiba to know why he had been in there earlier.

Kiba didn't seem to notice as the owner handed him his order. He opened the small square box to reveal a delicate looking engagement ring. Naruto peered over his shoulder to look at the ring with wide eyes.

"Is that what I think it is Kiba?" asked his wide eyed friend.

"It's for Hinata. We've been dating for over a year now and her father finally gave his blessing," Kiba said with a blissful grin on his face.

"You dog you," Naruto said not being able to hold back the intended pun.

Kiba just growled as he closed the box and reached in his pocket for the remaining payment. When he had paid the man he placed the ring in its box in his pocket and they left the store.

"So, you never did tell me why you were in there," Kiba said.

"Oh, I just thought I'd check out the necklaces. I haven't found a replacement since I broke the one Tsunade-baachan gave me and I thought I'd just poke my nose in there and see if they had anything similar in stock," Naruto lied giving the excuse he had worked out in his head while Kiba was picking up his order.

"Oh. But I thought they didn't let you wear anything in the way of jewelry in ANBU."

"Man, they don't let you wear _anything_ but what you are given in the uniform. There was more to it than just looks to that old one I wore," Naruto replied. "Well, I've got places to go, so I'll see you around."

"Later, Naruto," Kiba called to his friend as he turned and headed toward home; Akamaru trotting faithfully behind. He had reservations to make and a girl to impress before he popped the question on their next day off together.

Naruto turned and headed in the opposite direction that Kiba had gone. He stuck his hands into his pocket and fingered a small square box of his own. He was just glad the shop owner hadn't said anything more than he did before Kiba could pick up on why he was really there. With his hands deep in his pockets he walked down the street humming a nameless tune. They would be back at work tomorrow so it would be a few days before he would be able to get Sakura alone. He let out a deep, contented sigh. One of these days he needed to drop by her parent's house too. He figured that would be harder than asking Sakura. Right now he was just planning on going home and celebrating this small step toward forever with a large bowl of ramen at Ichiraku's.

* * *

The next day a young member of ANBU walked toward the Hokage's office after being summoned. He spent as little time here as possible unless he was assigned guard duty over one of the more secure areas in the building. He walked up to the double doors of the Hokage's office and was let immediately in as his arrival was expected.

"You wanted to see me Hokage-sama," a young ANBU said as he entered the Hokage's office. He was wearing a plane white mask with an orange diamond over the left eye and his messy blonde hair was all that might be used to identify him, apart from any other ANBU members, if he came across an enemy.

"How are you adjusting to your new duties in ANBU?" the Hokage asked more out of politeness than need for information. He sat at his desk with his good arm resting upon it.

"Well enough. What did you need to see me about, sir?"

"As direct as ever. As you know, you are the strongest weapon this village has. As it is I cannot afford for you to go about making decisions that may affect the security and future of this village. As of right now I am restricting your missions to the village. Do not under any circumstance go beyond half a day's journey into the surrounding forest of Konoha. Your captain and commander have both been informed of my decision. Do I make myself clear?"

"Hai," he snapped his answer.

"Good. I also understand that a boy your age is bound to be thinking about getting into a serious relationship. I want you to forget the possibility of such a relationship as of this moment. I have decided, and the Daimyo agrees with me, that we need you to aid us in solidifying relations with other nations. That may require a political marriage. You have no free will regarding this matter. You will leave such decisions to myself or the Daimyo. Be aware that any move you make affects the security of Konoha. Dismissed."

The Hokage was straight forward and emotionless during the entire encounter with the member of ANBU, but the young man was obviously shaking with rage at the end of the Hokage's speech. He somehow managed to salute his Hokage and exit the room without causing a scene. As soon as he left the Hokage's office he shot a fist through the wall opposite the double doors; his hand disappearing up to the elbow into the wooden wall. Two of his fellow ANBU stepped up beside him as a warning. He pulled his arm out of the freshly made hole and turned in defeat, slowly retreating down the hall before either of the guards said anything to him.

Back inside the Hokage's office, a hooded figure stepped from the shadows and addressed the Hokage.

"He took that rather well," the hooded man said as he appeared.

"As to be expected. He is a member of ANBU now and he has learned his place. I don't expect him to like it. That is not a requirement of a loyal army. You will find in time even he will do what needs to be done in order to protect the village of Konoha," replied the Hokage.

"Orochimaru-sama is very much enjoying this turn of events," he almost said in a hiss as a long purple tongue could be seen licking his lips out from under the hood.

"It is only fair that I repay him for his services. After all, controlling the boy's power in repayment for my regeneration is only fair."

"It is not his power we want, but we want to keep him from interfering. He has disrupted our plans too many times. With Sasuke this close to the Fire country we can't afford anything getting in our way," replied his hooded conspirator. "The Uchiha is lost to us, but he was able to break the jutsu and I can't afford him being brought back by that boy only to find out Orochimaru is here and is very much alive and well, even if slightly altered. It may prove detrimental to our existence if the Uchiha tries to break the jutsu again."

"The boy's track record has not been good with the Uchiha, but this way he will not have the opportunity to make any new attempts. The way to control a strong shinobi is to control that which is precious to him. He has been given his freedom for too long. Tsunade had a soft spot for the boy to a fault. His precious people are a weakness of his. He would do anything to protect the people of this village, even if it means his own happiness and freedom. He will not cause you any trouble."

"As expected from the Rokudaime Hokage and long time leader of Konohagakure's ANBU," hissed his creepy companion.

End Chapter 3


	4. Complications

Thanks for all the favorites and alerts and thanks for the reviews too. Thanks to HAzArdrOxS, Terminatorman100, uzumakisunspydr, icekrim91 and Gravenimage. I always love hearing from you guys! I did try to update earlier, but somehow my computer wasn't wanting to let me upload any files. You get a bonus this week, since I cleaned up another chapter while I was frustrated.

Read and review.

All jutsu in this story are either from the Manga or from Koga-ryu ninja article from Wikipedia.

**All Naruto characters belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto****. The story is only about what could be, unless Kishimoto-sensei is reading this ;p.

* * *

**

_That's been my special seat for years  
Whenever I'm worried about something, I come here  
Just like then, I'm on my way to my dreams  
But unable to fulfill them  
"Maybe this is the end of the line"  
There are days when I say weak things like that  
But every time, I remember  
That starry sky where I looked for a shooting star  
The wish I made when I was little  
Hasn't changed even now _

_(Translation for Nagariboshni Naruto Shippuden Episodes 1-19)

* * *

_

ANBU Gaiden

Chapter 4

Naruto was sitting on top of his favorite water tower looking up at the night sky. He was in full ANBU gear and they had been assigned to the night watch this month. Team 3 had been perfecting their hensojutsu (Chameleon Art) in training and this was the ultimate use for the jutsu; to be in full view and yet remain unseen even by your fellow ninja. Now he knew why he never saw ANBU until they were calling him to appear before the Hokage. He and his fellow ANBU were everywhere, but no one knew how many were really watching at any one time.

This is where Naruto usually came when he had something on his mind. They had been given their choice as to which part of town they wanted to patrol and for some reason he just felt more comfortable here. Konoha was quiet tonight. There wasn't going to be much to put in his report as his shift would be up in an hour. He could see Sakura from here. The plus about this jutsu is that you were still able to see your teammates if it was done just right. She was several blocks away on a tall building near the shopping district, her pink hair pulled back in a ponytail. It was blowing in the breeze moving in and out of the translucency of the jutsu and for some reason that made her seem even more striking. Naruto had caught himself day dreaming already a couple of times tonight and fortunately no one could see.

'Get a hold of yourself!' he inwardly scolded. He shook his head to clear his mind of the thoughts he was having and turned his head to look over the village. 'Such a peaceful night. Wish I could just enjoy it.'

His mind drifted to memories of how many times in the last few weeks he had to fight back the urges of his manhood when he was around the pink haired kunoichi in public. He was sure she had no idea the power she had over him. Their love was mutual, but he had never wanted it to turn out this way. He could keep a secret if he needed to, but this had been a four and a half year long secret and it was threatening to turn into an even longer one if Danzo had anything to do with it. The thought of a future without Sakura was almost enough to drive him mad. He hated that man for being the Hokage and not Tsunade. But still, it was now his duty to guard that man with his life and to do everything he was told to do. It was almost as hard to hide his anger toward Danzo as it was to hide his love for Sakura.

Naruto wondered if it had been this hard for his father and mother. He knew that their marriage was a secret from most of the village just because the Yondaime wanted to protect his family from his enemies. It still hadn't made his childhood any easier to deal with and he didn't want that for Sakura. It was times like these that he wished he could ask his father for help, but he had no idea if that was even possible. The one time he saw him may have been it as far as he knew and he didn't want to risk going Kyuubi in order to find out.

After their shift ended, Naruto walk towards his apartment alone. The blonde wanted to try and clear his mind before going to bed and seeing Sakura might make that even harder. The rage he felt toward this whole situation made him feel like putting another hole into a wall and he didn't want to do anything that might result in hurting Sakura in any way. Naruto stopped by the 24 hour convenience store and picked up a Popsicle before turning toward home. He felt a little too old for such a treat, but the memories attached made the choice almost automatic for him. Sitting down on a bench not far from home he unwrapped his treat; staring up at the night sky as it slowly began to glow to the east.

"May I join you?" said a masculine voice next to him. It was Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing at this time of day?" Naruto asked his former teacher.

"Oh, you know…"

"Actually, no I don't. Let me guess, an old lady needed help this morning?"

"No, but good guess," the retired ANBU member said as he sat down on the bench next to Naruto. "ANBU getting to you already huh?"

"Well, I'm defiantly learning some neat jutsu and all, but I hate being just a nameless 'tool'."

"Sai already told me all about the changes. You are not the only one who is disgruntled. I have a feeling that if you give it some time it won't be like that forever." Kakashi gave Naruto a reassuring smile under his mask. Too bad Naruto could only see it in the way he crinkled his visible eye.

"Kakashi-sensei, it's not only the everyday ANBU duties…," he began. Naruto ran his hand through his hair as if taking pause to gather his thoughts a bit. "The Hokage ordered me to remain single in case he needs me to marry for political reasons. I also can't leave the village for a reason only the Hokage knows. I…I just feel so helpless and I can't …," he let out a deep sigh. "I can't remember the last time I've felt like my life was so out of control."

Naruto hung his head. The weight of these thoughts was evident in the slump of his broad shoulders.

"There is more to it isn't there. Does it have to do with a certain pink haired kunoichi?"

"How did you know?" asked the wide eyed ANBU.

"Naruto, I've know about you and Sakura since the very first day. You didn't think you could fool me could you?"

"Well, no. Hoped is more like it. Kakashi-sensei, it's not so much the whole secrecy surrounding our relationship, but there always seems to be _something_ getting in the way. No matter what I try, it feels like fate is against us, plus all the stress from work isn't helping," he said looking down at the Popsicle as it began to melt. He took a moment to catch the drips while formulating what he was going to say next.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said after a moment of silence, "since you already know, I want to show you something." He pulled a small box out of his pocket and handed it to Kakashi.

"Is this what I think it is Naruto?" Kakashi said as he opened it revealing a silver ring with a deeply set solitary diamond in it.

"Yeah," Naruto said hanging his head again. "I had it specially ordered so that she could wear it into battle if need be and not worry about it breaking if she hit something, but…" he trailed off not finishing his final thought.

"Naruto," he said causing the blonde to finally look him in the eye, "I wouldn't worry about the Hokage. Things are bound to change and I don't think he'll be able to hold that order over you for much longer. I think you'll know when the time is right to ask her."

"But, I just can't manage to ask her to even wait for me assuming something could be done about the Hokage. It's not only that, but I haven't fulfilled my promise to bring Sasuke back. I know that sounds silly, but it just doesn't feel right. Did you know she even released me from that promise four years ago?" Kakashi nodded his response before Naruto continued. "I made that same promise to myself, not just for Sakura's sake, but for Sasuke's."

"Well, it makes sense why she released the promise if you think about why she made you make it in the first place. I wouldn't worry about Sasuke either if I were you. There is a reason he's been hard to track lately and it may be a very long time before we even hear about where he is hiding. You've got bigger things to deal with right now."

"Kakashi-sensei, what could be bigger than a direct order from the Hokage?" he said taking back the box from Kakashi and placing it in his pocket.

"Think about it, I'm sure it will come to you. Let's just say there is a reason you are carrying that box around with you at all times," he said giving him a hidden smile. He stood up and ruffled Naruto's messy blonde locks. Naruto grimaced at this reminder that to Kakashi he was still just a kid.

Kakashi bid him farewell and turned to go down the road. Naruto could see him pull out one of his infamous books and he just let out a little chuckle at the sight of his sensei with his nose forever in a book. If only life turned out like it did in those stories. Naruto had finally gotten around to reading one and it was a lot more interesting than it had been the first time he picked one up seven years ago. It was still not as good as "The Gutsy Ninja", but now that he was older he could see why Kakashi spent so much time reading them. Now, as long as Sai didn't pick up reading Jiraiya's books they would be alright. Just the thought of him taking those books as gospel and using them on the local women gave him a shiver down his spine.

The sun was just starting to peek over the buildings when Naruto finally made his way home. He opened the door and took off his boots. He could sense a familiar chakra signature in the room, but he hadn't expected to talk to her this morning. He walked to the couch to sit down next to her as she sat watching him in silence. Maybe he shouldn't have given her a key, not that it made any difference. She was much better at the unlocking jutsu than he was anyway.

"You left work before I could talk to you. Is everything alright?" Sakura asked as he sat down.

"I just had a lot on my mind this morning. I didn't mean to make you worry," he said as he laid down, placing his head in her lap.

"Well you did baka. If I had half a mind to I'd hit you clear across the village," instead she just brushed some of his long bangs away so that she could get a better look at his face.

They remained this way in silence for a while. Sakura just continued to play with his hair until his stomach let out an audible growl demanding that he deal with the hunger he had been ignoring. Popsicles don't make good breakfast.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" he said getting up.

She followed him into the kitchen as he started to make a quick breakfast of omelets and bacon. The pinkette pulled two teacups out of the cupboard and started to heat some water in the tea kettle while he scrambled some eggs in a bowl. She knew whatever it was that was bothering him must be big if he was avoiding even looking in her direction. Sakura continued to watch him in silence while he made breakfast using whatever he had in the fridge at the moment. She wasn't too picky about what she had in her omelet as long as she didn't have to make breakfast this morning. His shoulders slumped as he cut some onion and pepper to put in the egg mixture. Whatever it was that was bothering him he wasn't attempting to hide it behind that famous smile of his. Actually, she should have felt honored to see the side he never showed to anyone else. Naruto had long ago stopped putting up the brave front for her that he put up for everyone else; however, she didn't feel honored at the sight of the distraught man before her.

Sakura walked up to him and put a hand on his back between his shoulder blades. "What is it? You know you can tell me anything."

The blonde stopped what he was doing and turned to look at her in the eyes. "I can't tell you. Not yet anyway. Please believe me when I say that you'll find out soon. Just give me some time, OK?" Naruto's eyes plead with her as he spoke. They had almost turned a midnight blue as he gazed into her jade green eyes.

"OK, just don't make me beat it out of you," she said giving him a warm smile.

"A beating from you would be a blessing compared to what I've got on my mind right now," he said causing a confused look to appear on her face. "I know I'm just a baka, but can we just be together in silence today?"

"OK," she said standing up on tip toe to give him a kiss on the lips. He pulled her close and deepened the kiss before the tea kettle started it chorus and made them come back to reality. Naruto turned back to his cutting board, cursing at their situation under his breath, as Sakura proceeded to make them tea. She was clueless as to what was tormenting him and for the moment that was the way he wanted it.

Once breakfast was ready they ate in silence, just like Naruto had requested. At first Sakura wasn't sure he'd be able to handle the silence of ANBU, but he seemed deep enough in thought that it almost seemed second nature to him at that moment. It made her miss the loud Naruto of just a few years ago. She was trying to think of a way to cheer him up when he got up to put his dishes in the sink.

"I'm going to go to bed. Feel free to stay as long as you like," he said as he walked toward her and gave her a kiss on the forehead before silently making his way to the bedroom. Moments later, she put her own dishes away and followed him to the bedroom. He had already changed into shorts and a t-shirt and was in bed and she thought he had already fallen asleep. She stood next to the bed for a moment and watched him sleep. Sakura couldn't resist her urge and finally gave in to it, giving him a tender kiss on his slightly open mouth. The blonde reacted more than she was expecting as he reached up and grabbed her arms bringing her in for a deeper kiss. Her eyes grew big out of surprise before she closed them and returned the kiss.

Sakura climbed onto the bed and lay down next to him while still in his embrace. She could tell Naruto was fighting with some strong emotions with how desperate his kisses felt on first her lips than her neck. She unconsciously let out soft moans in pleasure as his desire for her started to ignite her own desires for him. Out of habit she began to stroke his whiskers making him moan with pleasure. Sakura then ran her fingers into his hair and pulled his head closer to her body as she rolled onto her back, bringing him almost on top of her. She looked down into his face at the same moment he looked into hers and she was surprised to see that his eyes were crimson. She gasped causing him to back off. He sat there in shock as he looked down at his hands which had developed some rather long claw like fingernails. He could also feel that his K-9's had gotten sharper as well.

"I'm sorry Sakura, maybe we should stop," he said as his expression was a mixture of embarrassment and fear. He hadn't expected his rage and the desire for her that he was feeling to go as far as to pull out some of the fox's chakra. He sat up on the edge of the bed looking dejected.

"Naruto, what is it? We've never had this problem before," she sat up on her knees next to him as he grasped his hair with both hands.

"Sakura," his voice faltered, "Maybe now just isn't a good time. You know I want you and I love you with all my heart. It's just that I've got a lot of things on my mind and I don't know what will happen if I lose control. You know I'd never hurt you, but this is new for me too and I just don't want to mess up." He looked up into her eyes; hurt and fear were evident in his eyes as he brushed some of her bangs behind her ear. She was glad to see that they had returned to their normal blue.

"OK," she said as she pulled his hand towards her lips to give it a kiss. "But you'd better tell me what's going on soon before you explode, literally."

He let out a nervous laugh and Sakura was glad that whatever it was hadn't completely taken away his sense of humor. She pulled his face towards her for one last passionate kiss before she climbed off the bed and turned to leave.

"I love you, Uzumaki Naruto. I'll be at home if you change your mind about telling me."

"I love you too, Haruno Sakura. Don't worry, you'll be the first one I tell," he said as he tried to hide his frustration and pain behind a smile.

Sakura blew him a kiss and walked out the door leaving him alone to his thoughts.

'What the hell was that? I've never lost control like that before!'

He flopped down on his mattress and stared at the ceiling. He unconsciously gripped at the seal on his stomach with his left hand as he ran his right hand through his hair. His thoughts were making it harder to fall asleep the second time around. Why was it that everyone that knew anything about the seal was gone? He knew that strong emotions made him pull out the fox's chakra, but was it because of his desire for Sakura that did it this time? Was it the stress he was feeling from being in ANBU's version of boot camp? Was it his frustration over not having found Sasuke yet? It most defiantly had something to do with the Hokage's order.

How he wished Ero-sennin was here so that he could ask him. Of course, the pervy old man probably wouldn't have gotten past the fact that Naruto had been making out with Sakura when it happened. He was pretty sure that Gaara had never gotten into a relationship before he lost the one tail; it was a dead end to even ask him. Naruto fitfully tossed and turned trying to understand his world until finally sleep overtook him as he lay there sprawled on his bed. He never even bothered to pull the covers back up over himself.

* * *

Sakura was walking down the street on a rather windy evening. The late summer winds were promising a storm at any minute as she quickened her pace hoping to arrive at her destination before the rain began to fall. It was her day off and she was headed to an evening with her girl friends over at Ino's apartment. Ino had been trying to get all of them to come over since Temari came back to town and it finally worked out with no one on a mission today. Of course the weather had decided not to cooperate, so they were more than likely going to spend the evening talking about boys and watching romance movies. Knowing Ino, she probably was going to bust out the beauty products and maybe Sakura would get a chance to have her toes painted for one day. No fingernail polish aloud in ANBU so she would have to take it off later, but it was still fun to sit around Ino's apartment and talk while she kept her hands busy.

It wasn't long before she found herself in front of Ino's door. She loved the woman to death, being her best friend and all, but some days she found it harder to deal with the loud blonde than others. After the way Naruto had been acting, today felt like it could be one of those days. She had picked up on his attitude and it hadn't helped that he still hadn't reveled to her what was going on. She was trying not to ponder this when Ino opened the door and let her in. Tenten and Temari were already sitting on the couch where Tenten was catching Temari up on all the latest news in Konoha. The weapons mistress talked a lot about 'Neji did this' and 'Neji did that', but Temari only rolled her eyes whenever Tenten mentioned her stoic teammate. Naturally, Tenten denied having any feelings for the Hyuuga prodigy.

"Sakura, you're just in time. I've got hot water if you want tea, or I have hot chocolate," Ino said. Sakura greeted the others in passing as Ino practically dragged her by the arm into the kitchen.

"I'll take some hot chocolate," Sakura replied once they entered Ino's kitchen which was closed off from the living room. She was a little confused as to why Ino had dragged her in here.

Ino pulled down a mug for Sakura before turning around with a serious look on her face. "So, what's this I hear about you and the number one surprising ninja? Are you two dating?" Ino quizzed her best friend.

"Ino, someone has been filling your head with lies. Why would I want to date Naruto?" Sakura denied.

"One of my sources told me you've been spending a lot of time together outside of ANBU," Ino said as she handed Sakura a mug of the chocolaty drink.

Sakura blew on her drink before replying, giving herself time to think up a good response. "Ino, Naruto is my best friend, aside from you. I mean look at how much time I spend with you and people don't think it's weird," Sakura said throwing in a joke to cover the white lie. "Besides, we are in ANBU together and sometimes it's just easier to talk to someone else who knows what you're going through."

"Yes, but Forehead, I'm not a guy. You spend as much time with a guy as you do me and people are bound to notice. Everyone knows he's had a crush on you since the Academy." Ino turned around and started to make herself a cup of tea while she talked. "Also, neither of you seem to want to date other people. ANBU can't be so busy that you can't find time to date. Tell you what, I'll see if I can dig up any single guys for you and maybe we can do a little double dating sometime."

"I take it your relationship with Mitsuhiro is going well?" Sakura said pushing the conversation away from her and Naruto.

Ino let out a deeply happy sigh before she spoke, "He is such a gentleman. He's still a little clueless when I talk about missions, but that's to be expected of any civilian. We try not to talk about flower shop stuff on dates, but he's doing wonders with the shop and it's hard not to fall into that topic."

Before Sakura could reply to Ino's musings about her latest boyfriend, there was a knock at the door. Ino rushed to the door and opened it to reveal that it was Hinata who was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"Hinata, you look like you've had a good day. Come on in," Ino said as she let the Hyuuga heiress into her living room.

"Hello Ino. Hi Tenten, Sakura, Temari," said the shy young woman.

"OK, spill it, what's going on," Temari said not wasting any time.

Hinata's face became bright red at Temari's directness, but managed to stutter out an answer, "K-K-Kiba-kun asked me to marry him." She held up her left hand for all to see and they all gathered around to inspect the engagement ring he had given her.

"You said yes obviously," Ino teased.

"H-hai," she stuttered in response.

"Oh, Hinata, I'm so happy for you," Sakura said. The rest of the girls offered their congratulations as they all started in on a conversation about how he proposed and what Hinata and Kiba were planning for the wedding, which wasn't much at this point since he had asked her the evening before.

When the excitement about Hinata's engagement died down a little Ino turned to Temari, "So, are you going to tell them your news or should I?"

"I'll tell them. It will be obvious before too long anyway. I'm pregnant. Shikamaru and I are going to have a baby," she said almost sounding like this was an everyday bit of news.

"Don't sound so blasé about it, Temari, that's wonderful news," Tenten said.

"Well, it was not how we had planned on doing this. I still haven't told my brother, the Kazekage yet and I don't know if the baby and I will live here with Shikamaru or even if I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing now as the representative of Suna."

"Funny, you would think Shikamaru had it all planned out," Ino said with a laugh.

"He did. He just didn't plan on things not going according to plan," Temari said actually blushing.

"Don't tell me, I really don't want to know how far he planned things," Ino said actually trying not to think of her teammate in that way. The rest of the girls just laughed at Ino since they had been cringing at thoughts along the same lines.

"So are you and Shika going to get married?" Sakura said asking the question that was on all their minds.

"Maybe. I mean we had talked about it before all this happened, but he had said that it was for me to decide whether I wanted to live in Konoha or just leave it as a casual relationship."

"You mean friends who sleep together?" Ino offered.

"Yea, something like that. His attitude is completely different towards 'us' since I told him about the baby. I think he's actually excited to be a dad. He's such a lazy crybaby that I'm surprised by how he's acting now."

"I am still having a hard time picturing Shika as a dad. He's great with Kuranai's son and all but, I don't know, I just can't picture him raising a kid. Sorry Temari," Ino said obviously struggling with the mental picture of Shikamaru with a baby.

"Ino, I don't know about you but I can't picture any of the guys changing diapers and being dutiful fathers. The thought of Lee even going near a baby scares me," laughed Tenten.

"That would bring a new definition to the 'springtime of youth' that's for sure," Sakura said laughing so hard she started to cry. It took a while for the laughter to die down before any of them could talk after that.

They spent the rest of the evening laughing about men and babies and exchanging funny guy stories. Lucky for Sakura, Tenten wasn't in an active relationship so she didn't feel quite so awkward not talking about Naruto in that frame of reference. Tenten was so head over heels for Neji though, the kunoichi had to laugh at her friend's obvious attraction for the man.

Sakura walked home well past midnight as the wind whipped around the village of Konoha. She was exhausted from having such a good time with her fellow kunoichi. It would be nice to do that more often, but with Hinata getting married and Temari having a baby there was a good chance that these evenings were going to be more and more infrequent. Sakura let out a sigh as she walked toward her apartment. A small pang of regret stabbed at her happiness as she pulled out her keys to unlock her door. Truth-be-told she had a hard time not telling her friends about her and Naruto and trying to keep Ino from finding out about them was getting harder every time Ino tried to set her up on a date. Not that she wanted to go on a double date with Ino. Besides her rival was a renowned attention hog and she was probably worse when there was a man in the picture. Sakura opened the door and removed her knee high boots before making her way to the bathroom. She needed a long hot bath before going to bed and nothing was going to keep her from it.

Sakura removed her everyday cloths and tossed them in the cloths hamper before turning the water on. Once the tub was full of hot, steamy water she waded in and slowly sat down. She hadn't realized how tired she really was or how tight her muscles had been until she let herself relax completely as she slid deeper into the bath. Leaning her head back against the ledge she let her mind drift through the various things that had been on her mind lately, trying her hardest not to truly think about anything.

Thoughts about her friends all being at some level of a relationship didn't seem to want to leave her thoughts; Tenten with a crush, Ino with a boyfriend, Hinata with a fiancé, and Temari pregnant. She also couldn't get Naruto's pained expression out of her mind. Sakura brought a hand up to her face and realized she had been weeping silently. The frustration she had been burying for the past few months finally surfaced and she just let it all flow out as she sat their alone in the bathroom.

End Chapter 4


	5. The Fight

Like I mentioned, you get a bonus because I got mad frustrated with my computer not liking FF. These were ready to go last Thursday.

Also, I listen to a lot of music while writing so that is why I've quoted a couple of songs at the beginning of the chapters. Not intended to be a songfic, it just happened that way.

Anyway, read and review.

**All Naruto characters belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto****. The story is only about what could be.  
**

**ANBU Gaiden**

**Chapter 5**

"So did you have a good time with the girls last night?" her blonde teammate asked her the next afternoon on their way to work. He was obviously dealing better with whatever had been bothering him the other day, even if he hadn't told her what it was yet.

"Let's just say that we had fun laughing at your guys' expense," she giggled remembering what all they talked about the previous evening. She felt much better after a good cry and a good night's sleep.

"I'm not surprised," he said with a roll of his eyes. "So, how are all the girls?"

"Everyone is good more or less. Let's see, what can I tell you that won't make you blush." He gave her a confused look as she mentally sorted through what all they talked about last night. "Hinata and Kiba are engaged, Temari and Shikamaru are having a baby, Tenten doesn't realize she's in love with Neji, although don't tell anyone I said that, and Lee would just be scary as a dad," she said trying not to laugh at the image that went along with that last statement.

Naruto just laughed at a mental image of Lee and some poor child as well. "Hate to tell you Sakura, but I already knew all of that, well except the part about Tenten. Don't worry, I won't tell Neji. I think he might have a heart attack if he knew she thought of him that way."

"Well, you're no fun. How did you know about Hinata and Temari before I did?" she said punching him in the shoulder, a pout on her lips.

"Well, Kiba showed me the ring he got Hinata about a week ago. I've never seen dog boy so nervous in my life," he said rubbing the bruise she had just made.

"And let me guess, Shikamaru told you about the baby."

"Actually I heard it from Choji. Shikamaru was still in shock when I ran into them watching clouds on Shikamaru's favorite hill," Naruto laughed at the memory of the pale shadow user as he was trying to process his next move with Temari.

"Well, I'm sure you'll have fun rubbing that little bit of information in his face later on."

"Actually, I kind of feel sorry for those two. I don't think Gaara is going to be too happy when he finds out all of Konoha knows about his sister sleeping with Shikamaru much less being pregnant with his child before he did, dattebayo," he cringed. "Gaara's a great guy, but I'm planning on staying far away from Shikamaru just in case until after she tells her brothers the news."

"I don't think Temari would let Gaara kill Shikamaru. Besides, they are the only two that can put up with each other. I for one have no interest in dating that slacker," Sakura laughed. She was just glad the Kazekage no longer had Shaku within him or Shikamaru's days may be numbered.

"Ha ha very funny," he retorted. He hated it when she did that.

Once they got to ANBU headquarters, they changed into their uniforms and masks and reported to their taicho to receive that day's mission. Their team was still on night watch, but their taicho had them training on different jutsu's for a couple of hours before their watch started. Sakura had been getting very dangerous with her Kyushojutsu (Vital Point Art) and Gokui Atemi Sakkatsuho Zukai (Secret Killing Strikes Art). Naruto assumed that it had to do with her medical knowledge. He was faster than she was, but she had even managed to immobilize him during their last training session. He didn't want to admit it, but Sakura was a natural ANBU member. She picked up on all the jutsu ten times faster than he did and she was good at it the first time she tried it. It just made it all the more obvious that she was the heaven in their relationship and he was the earth.

They met with their team leader in the training grounds as was their habit before their masked taicho began to speak. "Today we are going to work on elemental training," their taicho began.

'Nice, finally something I'm good at,' Naruto thought to himself.

* * *

_Naruto, _

_Hope you are enjoying your day off. Tsunade wants me to work at the hospital during the day this week. Taicho knows, so I'll probably only get to see you on the weekend. I'm going to go to the club tonight with Ino and the girls to celebrate Hinata and Temari's news. I think they are bringing the guys. It would be fun if you could join us. Might even be a few fan girls to keep you company. I'll see you when I see you._

_Shannaro _

Sakura wrote on a piece of note paper and stuck it to Naruto's door. She was glad she had the week off from ANBU, but she would miss not being able to see her favorite knucklehead. It was also going to mess up her sleep schedule, not that all the years of training didn't help her to deal with that part. Tsunade wanted her to help train some of the new medics this week. Sakura also had a feeling that Tsunade had some medical jutsu she wanted Sakura to learn and it promised to be a very long week indeed. Her shiso was a renowned slave driver and without her Hokage duties she was even more focused on making her hospital staff the best of the five elemental nations. Sakura wondered if part of it was driven by the ever present threat of war with the other nations since Danzo became Hokage.

Her first stop before going home was the market. She had been living off rice and donburi way too much over the last few weeks and she needed something new in her pantry. The thought of instant ramen made her wrinkle up her nose. She had no idea how Naruto could practically live off that stuff. Maybe she could grab some bonito (dried tuna), and umeboshi (salted plums) for onigiri (stuffed rice balls) this week. She also needed to grab some milk if Naruto was planning on raiding her fridge again. He always seemed to know when she went to the store because her milk supply never lasted as long as she would like. Sakura wondered down the market district filling her bag with the needed groceries before heading home. At her last stop she picked up some sake and turned to go down the street.

"Picking up some bad habits from Tsunade?" asked a tall man behind her. Sakura turned around to find Sai.

"Sai, if you're referring to the sake it's for cooking. I was going to make miso cucumber pickles for my lunches. If you're interested I'll bring some extra next time we work together," Sakura said trying to be polite to her teammate.

"No thanks. Last time I ate your mud balls I couldn't stand the thought of food for a week," he said falling in step with her as they walked down the street. "So I hear you escaped work for a week. How did you manage that?"

"Tsunade wants me at the hospital this week and don't call my soldier pills 'mud balls'. I just hadn't thought to taste them before I gave them to Naruto. Besides, he loves my soldier pills," she said with a slight smirk.

"Naruto will eat anything labeled food, so that doesn't say much," Sai laughed. He had been working more and more on his facial expressions lately and they were actually starting to look more natural.

"He still won't eat apples," Sakura giggled. He had refused to eat any since she had force-fed him one while in the hospital several years ago. "So, how's life as a single man again?" Sakura asked. She really didn't know what other topic to talk about at the moment.

"It's OK. I get to do whatever I want and I've been able to work on some of the paintings that have been sitting unfinished for the past several months. I still haven't forgotten that one I promised you when you got your apartment."

"Sai, you promised me that painting two years ago. That's OK. We've all been busy so I won't hold that against you."

"Thanks. So I hear that there is a big gathering tonight to celebrate Shikamaru's last few days before his execution by the Kazekage," he said with a straight face. "Are you going?"

"I was planning on it. Ino's going to bring her new boyfriend along. Are you sure it wouldn't feel too weird seeing them together."

"Sakura, I've had a lot of emotional training. Don't worry about it," he replied. "Anyway, I was wondering if you were interested in going with me."

"Me?" she said in surprise. "No offense, but I've never thought of you in that way."

"That's why I wanted to ask you. Sakura, I'm not interested in dating anyone right now and you don't appear to be either. I was just hoping that if we went together it would just even out the male to female ratio," he said rather matter-of-factly using logic that only made sense coming from Sai.

"I understand where your coming from, but I don't see how that would make it even?"

"Well, Naruto and Choji seem to have their share of fan girls and since I don't have any it will even it out," he replied.

"Fine. You talked me into it. I'll meet you out in front of the club at ten. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like a plan. See you at ten, Ugly," he said waiving as he turned to go toward his apartment.

"Don't call me ugly, Pale Face!" she yelled down the street after him. 'Now this could make the evening interesting.' She mentally laughed at the gossip this was going to start, especially after she told Ino she had zero interest in going on a date with Sai. Since they were just going as friends she was pretty sure Naruto wouldn't react _too_ much. At least she hoped he wouldn't react. It wasn't like he didn't spend time with his fan club when they went out or anything.

"Why does life always have to be so complicated?" she said out loud as she now stood in front of her apartment door.

"Then we wouldn't be able to practice our camouflage jutsu," Naruto said walking up to her unexpectedly. "I got your note."

"I'm going to have to make you wear a bell or something, baka," she said after she had recovered from him sneaking up on her. Maybe she needed to work on honing her chakra sensing skills.

"Hey, it's the one jutsu I'm better at than you are. If I can sneak up on you I know I can sneak up on just about anyone," he said with a shrug. "So what's adding to your complicated life now?"

"Sai just asked me if I would go with him tonight to the club," she said trying to act nonchalant as she opened the door and walked into her apartment.

"Sai? Ne Sakura-chan, I thought you didn't want to play that game?" he said rather calmly as he started to help her put groceries away.

"I don't and what are you acting so calm about?" she said taking some vegetables out of a bag and setting them on her counter so that she could clean them before putting them away.

"Sakura-chan, I think Sai knows more than he lets on," he said as he pulled out a glass and poured himself some milk.

"What makes you say that?" She turned around to face him as she leaned back against the counter.

"Hey, I'm a ninja too remember. Sometimes there are things you just sense before you understand why you sense it."

"Ok, Ninja-sama, but I still don't understand why you are so calm."

"I just had a long talk with Tsunade-baachan. She thinks it might be a good idea for us to take a break for a while," he said before taking a drink from his glass. He failed to notice Sakura suddenly looking rather pale.

"WHAT?!" Sakura couldn't hide the shock and the pain in her heart at what that kind of statement implied.

"Whoa, not that kind of break," he said holding his hands up in defense; suddenly realizing his mistake too late. "It's just until we can figure out why I'm pulling out Kyuubi chakra during make out sessions. Don't worry, I didn't tell her any of your secret moves."

Sakura still hadn't recovered from her first reaction as tears had already started to pool in her eyes. Naruto walked toward her and put his arms around her. She obviously wasn't finding any of his attempts at joking about her secret moves very funny and she started to cry in his embrace.

"I'm sorry I said it that way, Sakura no hana. Can you forgive a baka like me?"

She nodded her response, but she wasn't recovered enough yet to stop the flow of tears.

"Baachan is worried that it might be related to stress and adding intense emotions on top of it may be what's causing my reaction. I actually feel much better since we talked, but she doesn't trust me enough to think that a little talk will cure it. I'm sorry. I just need to figure this out so that I don't end up hurting you."

Sakura sniffed back the last of her tears and whipped them on his jacket. He just laughed and stroked her long, pink hair.

"Not funny, baka," she said as she poked him in the ribs with a chakra loaded finger. He somehow managed to only cringe this time around. It wasn't like it was the first time she had bruised his ribs like that or anything.

"I'm sorry Naruto," she said pulling away from him and turning to lean on the counter behind her.

"It's OK. You didn't break anything," he said thinking she meant his ribs.

"Not that!" she snapped. "I think I'm just feeling a little left behind with Hinata getting married and Temari having a baby. Even Ino acts like this guy might actually be the one. I just want to go up to the top of the Hokage monument and scream 'I'm in love with Uzumaki Naruto', but I can't!"

"Sakura, we talked about this," his voice firmly reminding her that it was a closed topic. Sakura turned around to face him; her expression letting him know that to her it was _not_ a closed topic.

"Naruto, I'm sick of hiding! I just want a normal life, at least as normal a life that a ninja can have. I want to show off my boyfriend! I want to stick it in the Hokage's face that he can't control everything! I want to be able to walk up to you in the middle of the street and kiss you right on the mouth for all the world to see! I want the home and the children! I even want to be able to lose control with you and not worry about you going Kyuubi on me!"

She was starting to punch him at this point out of frustration and he stepped into her and grabbed her wrists. He wasn't quite sure how to deal with Sakura like this. Tears were bad enough, but she had lost control and he didn't know what to do but keep her from doing her best to injure him; which he knew she could do easily.

"Sakura, I know how you feel, but you need to calm down," he said firmly.

"You obviously don't know how I feel! Why won't you let me tell the world how much I love you?" she said glaring at him and trying to free her wrists from his firm grasp. Their secrecy had been a mutual decision and she didn't know why she was placing all the blame on Naruto in this moment.

"Sakura, my parents went through the same thing. It's because I'm the Jinchuuriki, the Yondaime's son, and I just want to protect you," he said pulling her into a hug so that he could try to calm her down and keep those dangerous hands under control.

She managed to free herself from his hold on her and he wasn't sure if he should run now or try to get a hold of her again. "Naruto, what are you afraid of? There is something that you are not telling me and you are the one that always says you don't want anything between us!" Her green eyes were sharp and brilliant with rage and they pierced deep into his soul.

"I told you, Sakura. There are some things I need to take care of before that can happen. Just give me some time…" he began, but she was in no mood to hear excuses.

"What?! Like Sasuke? He could light himself on fire with Amaterasu for all I care!" She was starting to tear up again and Naruto couldn't stand to see her looking like this.

"Sakura please, just calm down before you say something we'll both regret" he pleaded.

"Fine! Be that way! Get out before I make a new door with you!" she screamed as she turned and ran into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her almost taking it off its hinges.

Naruto was stunned at what had just happened and he slowly turned and walked out the door; closing it quietly behind him. 'Maybe going to the club tonight is not a good idea; at least not until Sakura calms down.'

* * *

'What have I done? Oh, Kami-sama, what have I done?' she cried silently on her bed as she heard the door close in the next room. She could hear him walk down the hall with heavy footfalls. Naruto was obviously not trying to mask his presence now as he walked away from her door. She hadn't meant to unload on him like that but once she started it felt like inner Sakura had taken control and she was watching it all happen from the sidelines. She cried on her bed for what seemed like hours before she sat up and wiped the tears from her cheeks. She looked at the pile of tissues that sat next to her on the bed and let out a shaky sigh.

Cleaning up her pile she moved toward the bathroom to deposit her load and inspect her swollen eyes. She didn't understand how her life had unraveled so fast in one afternoon. She knew Naruto would be hurt, but he would bounce back like always. At least she hoped that he would bounce back. She had been furious at their situation, but she hadn't meant to take it all out on him. He was her strength and the love of her life. Not only did she manage to lay into him like that, but she was feeling very ashamed of all that she had said. Sure it was all true, maybe not in the angry way that she had said it, but it was true. She was jealous of her friends and now she had just managed to hurt her very best friend.

She splashed some cold water on her face hoping it would calm the redness around her swollen eyes. She knew a few secrets to get rid of the swelling, but right now it felt like her face deserved a little punishment. Her next destination was her kitchen where she saw the remnants of the glass of milk he had left on the counter. The sight of this caused tears to surface once more, but she managed to choke them back before they started to fall. She had been ready to tease him for his constant raiding of her refrigerator before he had hit her with that comment. It wasn't such a big deal now as she dumped out the rest of the milk into the sink. She still had cucumbers sitting on the counter so she mechanically started to make her miso pickles. She needed a mindless activity to keep her hands busy at the moment and this seemed like something she could handle.

* * *

Sakura was getting ready for bed when she heard a knock at the door. She was pretty sure that Naruto would be avoiding her for at least a week unless she made the first move so she had no idea who would be stopping by at this hour. Clad in only her pajamas when she went to the door, opening it up to see that it was Sai.

"Sai, what are you…crap! I forgot! I'm so sorry," she apologized.

"I like your outfit tonight. Is that a new style," he said nonchalantly.

"No, they're my pajamas. I had a rough afternoon and completely forgot about tonight. I'm sorry Sai, but I don't think I can go," she said making excuses.

"I'd say that was OK and leave, but both Temari and Ino threatened my life if I didn't come over and pick you up. I'll wait until you get something a little more club appropriate on," he said shutting the door so that she wouldn't have time to argue.

'Fine, but don't expect me to have a good time,' she thought as she shook her head and walked back toward her bedroom. She changed into a more appropriate outfit and joined Sai out on the landing after only five minutes of fixing up her appearance in the bathroom. She still had wet hair, but that didn't seem to matter tonight. She felt terrible and she didn't care who knew.

"So, I'm going to assume that you don't want to talk about your afternoon with me, so how about this windy weather we are having?" he said trying to strike up a conversation.

"Sai, thank you for trying to be a gentleman, but I'm not really in the mood for small talk. I'll warn you right now that this will probably be the worst date you've ever had," she said trying to hide her face with her long bangs. She had pulled the rest of it back in a lose braid, but no matter how she did her hair, she always ended up with her long bangs falling out on either side of her face.

"That's OK, I wasn't expecting much anyway. You will be glad to hear that Naruto isn't there."

"Wait, how did you…," she started but couldn't find the words to finish.

"Sakura, I'm not as clueless as you think I am. You two have been sending unrequited signals for years; although I don't think either of you realize you're doing it. I would say I'm the only one who notices them, but I can't guarantee that. Don't worry; I don't think Ino knows. She's always too busy with her own love life to notice," he said giving that fake smile of his. "I can't promise you a good time tonight, but I am here if you ever decide you need someone to talk to."

"Sai, I don't know how you ended up turning out to be so nice," Sakura said giving him the best smile she could manage.

"Thank you, I think," he said as they headed off to a night of loud music, good friends, and emotional masks.

* * *

A lone figure watched over Konoha as he sat on top of the Yondaime's head of the Hokage monument. Eyes filled with pain as he watched the pinked haired kunoichi walk down the street with his friend on their way to the club.

End Chapter 5


	6. Sai's Intervention

Thanks to all of you who added this story to your alert and favorite lists.

Claudita, thanks _so much_ for fixing my spelling errors.

Icekrim91, x NINJABLADE45x, wind797 and Dmanplayer723 thanks for your reviews.

**All Naruto characters belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto****. The story is only about what could be. I'm not sure yet if I'm nicer to Sasuke or meaner cause the Manga is sure messing with the fan fiction ideas right now.**

ANBU Gaiden

Chapter 6

Sakura didn't know why she was doing this. This was an act about as desperate as falling off a cliff and grabbing onto the fine roots from the trees that were growing above hoping that they would hold weight. She sealed the note with a fuuin no jutsu that he had shared with her what seemed like a lifetime ago. It was a fuuin no jutsu that could only be released by a sharingan user and she had only used it a couple of times since then with Kakashi. There had been rumors of a three-man team that was crossing through the Wave country picking up dangerous missions for a low fee. The rumor was that a raven-haired man who summoned snakes led them and the only one who fit that description was Sasuke. She was sending the note via Tazuna and Inari hoping that they might be able to deliver it somehow.

Sakura was thinking about how she still hadn't seen Naruto since they had that fight. In fact, she had not been able to track him down at all during the last week. Working with Tsunade hadn't left much time for her to look either. The Sannin had confronted Sakura one day about her lack of focus and she had forced it out of the pink haired kunoichi what had happened between her and Naruto. Tsunade had listened in silence as Sakura poured out her heart to her. The former Hokage only told her that there were things going on behind the scenes and that in time the "brat" would snap out of it. Sakura wasn't sure exactly what the Hokage was talking about, but she did know that there had been little harmony in Konoha since Danzo had managed to worm his way into the role of Hokage. His iron grip over everyone really wasn't helping him gain popularity.

Either way, she figured she needed to remove at least one obstacle in her love life by trying to set up a meeting with her former teammate. If she could get Sasuke at least to agree to a meeting with her then maybe she could set up a reunion between him and Naruto. There was no way Sasuke could come back to the village while Danzo was Hokage, but maybe without Madara and Orochimaru in the picture Sasuke would be more open to change. It could be just a silly childhood fantasy for team 7 to be whole again, but she at least had to try and as long as Naruto didn't seem to want to give it up maybe she could at least help to speed up the process.

The winds started to whip around the village as Sakura gave the sealed message to the courier ninja who was on his way to the Wave Country. A storm was coming and she didn't know how long it would be before it reached Konoha.

* * *

Naruto and Sai were in the men's locker room along with several other members of ANBU getting ready to go home for the day after a long night keeping watch over the city. Sai was temporarily assigned to Naruto's team while Sakura was working at the hospital. The only benefit of having grown up in Root, as far as Sai was concerned, was that he outranked even Naruto and Sakura's taicho, but he had been the only one available to fill in that week. Naruto quickly and quietly got dressed as the fully dressed Sai turned to talk to his friend.

"So I was thinking, maybe you could help me with this girl I know that's having problems," Sai began.

"And what in our history together makes you think that I'm a smooth talker when it comes to the female population?" Naruto asked raising a single eyebrow.

"Let's just say that she's about as stubborn as you are. I thought maybe since you were an expert in that field you could help me out," Sai said with a straight face.

"Ha ha very funny. So who is this mystery girl?" Naruto asked as he put on his sage coat.

The days were finally getting colder and he had to pull it out of his closet as the end of September approached. It wouldn't be long before his 21st birthday, not that he ever really looked forward to the festival celebrating the Kyuubi's capture.

"Come on. I'm meeting her for breakfast before she goes to work. My treat," Sai said as he started to leave the locker room.

"Hai, hai. Anything for free food, dattebayo," he grumbled as he walked behind his allusive friend. He wasn't in the mood to play friendly, but Sai had peaked his interest. The offer of food helped. He said goodbye to the other ANBU in the locker room and followed Sai out the door.

As they walked down the street, Naruto noticed that they were going toward Sakura's favorite restaurant where she liked to go for breakfast. He had wanted to see her, but he still wasn't sure if she wanted to see him. Naruto just hoped that she wouldn't be there this morning. Sure enough, Sai lead him into the very restaurant he had been thinking of and the hostess led them toward the back of the dining room. He could see a pink head already seated with her back towards them as Sai and Naruto were led to her booth. The hostess set down some menus and they sat down across from Sakura who looked a little surprised and disappointed to see who Sai had brought with him. Naruto sat down last leaving room for escape if he needed it.

"Sai, Naruto," she said trying not to act surprised.

"Sakura," replied Sai.

"Hi Sakura-chan," Naruto said without looking her in the eyes.

"I already ordered since you were running late Sai. Tsunade expects me to meet her in half an hour so I hope whatever it is you wanted to talk about doesn't take longer than that," Sakura said giving Sai a warning glance. She had a sneaking suspicion that Sai was trying to play matchmaker this morning.

Sai ignored her comment and turned toward Naruto. "This is the girl I was talking about. I told you she was about as stubborn as you are," he said matter-of-factly.

"Hey!" Sakura shot back in defense.

The waiter returned to take Sai and Naruto's order and to bring Sakura her order. She wasn't eating much letting Naruto know that she was worried about something again; probably having to do with him. She also had a cup of tea that smelled an awful lot like chamomile, which meant she was trying to calm her nerves. Sakura broke apart her chopsticks and began to eat. Sai could see he was going to have to do most of the talking.

"So Sakura, did you know that Naruto here has a girl that he has a serious crush on?" She looked up trying not to send daggers his direction with her eyes. "She works at the hospital. Maybe you know her; although he hasn't spoken to her in a week, probably over some misunderstanding. He's really had a rough month, what with the meeting he had with the Hokage and all." Sai said, trying to break the ice the best he knew how.

Sai bringing up his meeting with the Hokage made Naruto glare at his teammate. He had a very good idea which meeting Sai was talking about and he wasn't willing to talk about that yet. Sakura just looked up from her breakfast looking a little confused and curious as Sai spoke. Sai was just glad one of them seemed interested in his one sided conversation.

"Sai," Naruto growled in warning. He had really wanted Sakura to hear this coming from him, not have his socially awkward friend tell her.

Sakura held up her hand to let him know she wanted to hear what Sai was about to say. Naruto kept quiet not wanting to risk her anger this morning. "What meeting?"

Sai had Sakura right where he wanted her. "It seems that the Hokage has put some restrictions on my friend here. It seems he is no longer allowed to leave the village due to security reasons."

"Really? What security reasons?" she asked. Sai definitely had her full attention now.

"Can't go into it, tongue seal and all. But, I can tell you that they are afraid of who he's been looking for the last few years."

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked. He finally had decided to join the conversation. He knew there had to be another reason behind the Hokage's restriction on him.

"But Sasuke's nothing new. Why would he keep Naruto in the village now?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know exactly. But that wasn't the only order my friend here received that day," Sai continued.

Naruto hung his head momentarily, but the arrival of their order made him look up again, catching sight of Sakura's look of worry. She looked away from him when she saw him looking at her looking at him.

"So what was this other order?" she asked her artistic friend.

"It seems the Hokage and Daimyo are planning on a political marriage for him and he's been ordered to remain single. I don't think he's even told the girl he likes about this."

"You can't be serious!?" Sakura replied. The color had all but drained from her face as she looked at Naruto, who was refusing to make eye contact with her by hiding his eyes behind his long bangs. "Naruto?"

There it was. Naruto's big problem out in the open and both he and Sakura didn't know what to do now that it was out there. Sai just left the conversation at that and started to eat his meal. His turn to talk was over and now it was up to Naruto and Sakura if they wanted to heal the wounds between them.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan," he said sounding defeated. He left his untouched meal there and walked out of the restaurant.

Sakura followed him out of the restaurant after leaving her part of the bill on the table and saying a quick goodbye to Sai. The art jutsu user wasn't worried about how breakfast had turned out. He had just wanted his two best friends to start talking again and he had figured out that this was the order that was the root of their problems over the past few weeks. He just didn't know how deep the feelings went that were related to those problems.

Sakura raced across the rooftops looking for Naruto. She had a good idea as to where he had gone, but she kept her eyes open just in case. Looking in the direction of the Hokage monument, Sakura saw a yellow and red streak race up to the top of the mountain before disappearing just behind the Sandaime's head. She bounded up after him hoping that he was planning to stop sometime soon.

When Sakura had reached the top of the monument, she found Naruto sitting on a fallen tree with his head in his hands. He didn't even raise his head when she approached. Sakura knelt down on the ground in front of him and took both of his hands in hers; bringing them down so that she could try to see his face. His hair hid his eyes, but she knew that he was silently crying.

"Naruto?"

"I'm sorry Sakura no hana. I didn't know how to tell you that you are in a dead end relationship. I had hoped to give you the freedom to shout your feelings from the top of the Hokage monument, but…" he began as the emotions choked up the words in his throat. He started again after trying to gain some control over his feelings, "But, no matter what I do it always gets screwed up."

"Naruto, don't blame yourself," she said as she too started to tear up. "The Hokage's decision has nothing to do with us. He's just trying to control you. He can't control what I feel for you. Don't let him win."

"How can you say it has nothing to do with us?" Naruto spoke as he stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes on his sleeve. "This is a direct order that threatens to keep us apart forever!"

"Just because that old man has been trying to control you and your family, since before you were born doesn't give him the excuse to tear us apart!" she said defiantly as she stood up and walked over to where he was standing. His back was still toward her.

"Naruto, look at me. I love you. He can't control my feelings for you. I want to be with you no matter what. We'll figure this out, believe it," she said throwing his famous childhood catch phrase at him.

He let out a half hearted laugh as he looked her in the eye. "Sakura no hana, what did I ever do to deserve your love?"

"You have always given your all for me. Sometimes it feels if my love is not enough to repay the debt I owe," she said as she put her arms around his torso and under his coat.

He returned her embrace and they stood there on top of the Hokage monument wrapped in their love for one another.

* * *

_The room was pitch black. He could hear the screams of his family in the background, but he couldn't see them. _

_His brother's image flashed before his eyes, his sharingan staring back at him; the image of their parents lying on the ground in miniature before him._

"_Tosan, Kasan, Niisan why? Why? Why did you show me all of this?"_

"_To make you hate me," the image of his brother said before fading into the void._

'_I tried to show what I was capable of __**without**__ killing everyone…,' he cried out to the void._

"_You are not even worth killing...If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me and survive in an unsightly way…Run. Run and cling to life," echoed through his mind. He knelt down trying to block the sound from his ears._

_Uchiha Madara's face was the next to appear. He could only see one unmasked eye glaring at him. "Itachi did it all to save Konoha."_

_The face changed into Itachi's again. "I'm sorry, Sasuke, but this is the last time…"_

_Madara's face emerged next to Itachi's. Both seemed like they were laughing at his weakness. "Itachi was right, you are not even worth killing."_

"_Just an Uchiha Fledgling," hissed the image of Orochimaru making the trio of tormentors complete._

…

"NO!!!" Sasuke woke up drenched in sweat. He was sitting up and panting hard. The cold night air was causing goose bumps on the moist skin of his naked chest and arms as he sat alone in the dark; fisting his blanket trying to regain his sense of reality. It was that dream again. He was having it more and more often lately: memories of Itachi, his parents lying on the floor, Madara, and Orochimaru. His pathetic reasons for survival were to live any other way than how his brother had lived or wanted him to live, except for the hate.

Sasuke looked around the cave that was their temporary home. It was dark, cold, damp and musty. Since Suigetsu had abandoned them to chase after Hoshigake Kisame they had been moving from hiding place to hiding place avoiding Madara's long reach as much as possible. He had not been surprised at how easily Suigetsu had died fighting Kisame, but he managed to take Kisame with him. This had cause Madara to be a little more cautious without one of his right hand men to help him in his quest for power. Madara had been true to his word that if Taka had let him down he would kill them. He had tried, but somehow the three of them had escaped with their lives.

'Lies! All of it lies,' Sasuke cringed at the thought that his life was always just someone else's attempt to control him because he was an Uchiha. Karin had tried to comfort him with her womanhood, but he hadn't been interested. Jugo hadn't been much help. He only knew calm or completely insane, nothing in between. They were living life day by day waiting for when Madara finally caught up with them or they died on a mission. Sasuke secretly wanted someone to end his misery. That's why he kept accepting low paying, dangerous missions. Karin and Jugo would both complain, but they stayed for reasons he didn't understand.

Sasuke got out of bed and threw his shirt on before going to the entrance of the cave. 'Only two hours again,' he thought to himself as he recounted how many nights he had been going on at most two hours of sleep a night. He was tired but whenever he closed his eyes, he only saw images of them. He tried to recall the last time he felt relaxed enough to sleep all night long. 'Maybe back in Konoha. Right before I left,' he thought before shaking that line of thought from his mind. Sasuke had a hard time remembering if he had ever really had a peaceful night's sleep since going to Orochimaru. There he could always hear people screaming, no matter how faint. When he was with Madara he awoke at the littlest of sounds fearing that someone was always in the room. Zetsu's strange habits hadn't help as he felt like the strange Venus Flytrap of a man was always watching his every move.

He heard a sound behind him and whipped around, sharingan activated to find a bat adjusting its hold on the ceiling of the cave. Sasuke let out a shaky sigh. When had his calm and controlled persona been replaced by the jumpy, paranoid man he had become? He relaxed his stance, his eyes turning from red to black. Walking to his chosen spot on a rock just to the left of the cave, he sat down and gazed across the water. The mist was just starting to form on the wide expanse of water as the night air reached its lowest temperature just before sunrise. This was his favorite time of day. It was completely calm and he could hear everything for miles. He knew that everyone was asleep and would be for at least another hour.

Maybe he would walk around the village this morning and see if there was any work or missions on the community bulletin board. He and his team had helped Tazuna carry supplies last week and had earned enough for living expenses. The old man still had no clue as to why Sasuke was hanging around Wave country and not back in Konoha. Sasuke figured it was better just to let the old man remain naïve about the whole thing and merely grunted at the questions he and Inari had fired off at him. Next time he picked up work like that he would have to go into a henge just to avoid the never-ending questions.

The village was quiet this morning. He was up well before any of the venders and that was just how he liked it. The fewer he ran into the better. Sasuke reached the community board and quickly scanned the advertisements and notices. He noticed one letter that looked strangely out of place. It had a small emblem on the upper left hand corner that to his surprise looked like a smudged Uchiha crest. He pulled it down from its spot on the board and examined it more closely. It appeared to look like an ordinary letter, but there was something that seemed so familiar. He took a sniff and he could smell the slightest hint of a fruity fragrance. 'Cherry?' he thought as his memory told him that that particular fragrance was familiar. He activated his sharingan hoping to gain more clues and realized that a seal had appeared that only the sharingan could see.

"Sakura," he whispered. She was the only one who knew this fuin no jutsu. He hadn't even bothered to show Karin. Why would she try to contact him? His curiosity was getting the better of him now. It had been four years since they last met. She was beautiful and very dangerous. She also didn't seem too eager to have him back in her life which was a complete turnaround from when he had left 8 years ago. This had caught him off guard so he was really wondering why she had tried to contact him now. The young Uchiha had no urge to contact his former teammate, but he wanted to know what she wanted.

He bit his thumb and wiped the blood on the seal to release it. Upon opening it, he was surprised that it didn't say much. She just wanted to meet him at a certain ledge overlooking a stream on the east side of Konoha. All he had to do was show up on a certain day and at a certain time. No questions asked, no information given.

"Might as well. It could be a trap, but if she went to the trouble of getting in touch with me, it may be worth my time. If not it could mean one less annoyance in my life," he said under his breath. She was dangerous, but he still considered her weak compared to either him or Naruto. Getting rid of her wouldn't be a step outside of his plans anyway. He still wanted to go after the Hokage and his advisers, but they lacked the manpower. Nevertheless, suicide missions were becoming more and more interesting lately. Maybe this was the chance he was looking for to get back at the village of Konoha for all the pain that he had suffered and was still suffering. Whatever her plans were didn't matter. He had plans of his own.

* * *

Naruto walked up to the door feeling more nervous than he had ever felt in his life. He took a deep breath and almost forgot to let it out before he let his knuckles give three raps on the door before him.

'Yosh! OK, buddy. This is it. Hokage's orders or no, time to make a good impression. I want to do this right before I ask Sakura to marry me,' he thought as he heard footsteps on the other side of the door.

Sakura's father opened the door and greeted Naruto with a pleasantly surprised expression on his face.

"Naruto, this is a surprise. Won't you please come in?" Sakura's father said stepping out of the doorway to allow her teammate inside.

Her father was a tall man with straight brown hair. He wore a civilian style garment similar to what Jiraiya use to wear, but with the Haruno family emblem on his left shoulder. Naruto couldn't help but notice that Sakura looked more like her father, but with her mother's pink hair and dimensions.

"Thank you Haruno-san," Naruto said nervously. 'Breath. Breathing is good.'

"Who is it dear?" Naruto heard Sakura's mother call from the kitchen.

"It's Sakura's teammate, Naruto," he answered back. She walked in from the kitchen wiping her hands on her apron and gave him a smile that reminded him of Sakura's smile.

"Naruto, what brings you here?" Sakura's mother asked.

"Actually I was wondering if I could ask you both something," he said nervously as it felt like his heart was pounding in his ears. Sakura's parents looked at him as he seemed to have gained their undivided attention. He took a deep breath before continuing. "I've come to ask for your permission to...well, I was wondering if I could have your blessing...I want to ask Sakura to marry me," he finally blurted out.

Sakura's parents just looked at each other with looks of disbelief as they both took in what Naruto had just asked them. Sakura's father than looked at the young shinobi, the strongest in the village and Naruto looked like he could pass out at any moment. He nodded to his wife and she returned it with a smile. Sakura's mother walked up to the nervous blonde and wrapped her arms around him as he stood wide eyed and in shock.

"We would love to give you our blessing. Welcome to the family dear," Sakura's mother said as her father walked up and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Now don't think you're getting off that easy, son. We still have a lot to talk about. Why don't you have a seat," Haruno-san said as he motioned for Naruto to sit down on the nearby couch. Sakura's mother sat next to the still very nervous shinobi as her father sat across from him. Naruto let out a big sigh as he prepared himself for questions from his future in-laws. The hard part was over. A small smile started to form on his lips as he realized he was one-step closer to marrying the girl of his dreams.

* * *

One week later:

Sasuke sat on a large boulder overlooking the ocean. He had a letter in his hand, but he wasn't reading it. It dangled from his hand as he sat looking out over the water thinking of the letter's author.

"Time to visit an old friend," he said as he crumpled up the letter with one hand.

End Chapter 6


	7. Meeting with Taka

Wow, lots of reviews (for me) and a C2 to boot! Thanks to Icekrim91, x NINJABLADE45x, wind797,dbzgtfan2004, celious2, habu2010, and Gravenimage.

Thanks to all of you who added this story to your alert and favorite lists.

**All Naruto characters belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto****. The story is only about what could be but, "the path of true love never did run smooth"-Midsummer Nights Dream.  
**

ANBU Gaiden

Chapter 7

The forests around Konoha were bathed in rays of pale gold as the early morning light broke through the dark gray clouds. A solo female ANBU member, her long pink hair pulled back in a single braid, could be seen jumping through the trees. The forests around the village were peaceful and only the usual sounds of the birds filled the air. The patrol route was standard for this time in the morning and Sakura had planned it so that she would reach this area long before her teammates. Sai and Naruto were nearby, but beyond visual range. Their normal taicho and fellow ANBU teammate had been assigned to a recognizance mission outside the boarders of Konoha. The Hokage's orders had split up several teams to accommodate Naruto's restrictions so for the past couple of weeks Sai was assigned as their taicho out of convenience because they were already experienced teammates.

The pink haired ANBU scanned the area for anything out of the ordinary. The ridge was just up ahead and she jumped out of the trees to the appointed location. Sakura spun around with kunai drawn at the sound of a branch breaking. She had expected this, but it had been five years and with him she never knew quite what to expect.

"There could be only one pink haired kunoichi in Konoha's ANBU," said a deep voice from behind her.

'How long had he been there?' she thought to herself as she turned around. Sasuke walked towards her until he was only five feet in front of her.

"Hn, nice mask," he said.

"I see you got my message, Sasuke," she said trying to keep her voice from betraying the adrenaline rush that was making her shake in anticipation. She lowered her kunai and stored it back in the holster on her thigh. She didn't trust him, but she needed Sasuke to think that she did if this was going to work.

"Let's just say I was curious as to why you wanted to meet with me. I'm assuming the order to kill on sight still holds true?" said her stoic former teammate.

"It is," Sakura said as her determination started to overcome her nerves. "I'm not trying to trap you, Sasuke, but I'm not afraid to put up a fight if I have to," she replied as she adjusted her gloves. He seemed unaffected by her comment but, even in his cold expression, she could tell that he was curious.

"Where's the dobe?" he said referring to Naruto.

"He's not far away, but he knows nothing about my contacting you. Sasuke, I asked to meet you here because I want to bring some closure to all that's happened between the three of us. We've been at this for far too long. Naruto won't give up until he's convinced you that hate isn't the path you should follow. You have no idea how your selfishness have affected everyone."

"My selfishness? I remember a time when you'd give up everything to follow me," he retorted.

"I was a child then, Sasuke. You have no idea how much we sacrificed just so that you didn't have a death sentence over your head from the very moment you left. We have been on the brink of war with Kumo ever since you joined Akastuki and they don't seem to care that you are no longer a member or that Killer Bee is safe. Please, just talk to Naruto. Let's put all of this behind us."

"Sakura, everyone has a death sentence over my head now. I'm an avenger. What makes you think I care how that affects anyone else?" he said coldly as his eyes turned red. He had heard similar pleadings before and he wasn't interested. Sasuke studied her chakra looking for something that might give away her weaknesses. With his sharingan activated, he noticed two other people coming towards them through the trees. They were two other members of ANBU that had noticed his presence. Well two can play at that game. "Come on out guys, we have company."

Jugo and Karin emerged from the shadows as the ANBU made their appearance a few paces behind Sakura.

"What's going on here?" the tall blonde asked directing his question at both Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura hadn't expected them to show up and found herself tongue tied. She suddenly felt like she was on the sidelines as she watched the two men before her.

"The lady and I were just having a pleasant conversation, Naruto." he said with a smirk. Even with masks on, he knew right away who the two ANBU were just from scanning their chakra. "Nice to see you too, Sai."

"I highly doubt that, teme," Naruto growled. He was in no mood to deal with Sasuke's brashness.

"Hn. Why don't you take off those silly masks so that we can talk face to face?" Sasuke suggested as he pointed to Naruto's mask.

"I kind of like my mask. It lets me make faces at you without you knowing."

"Always the fool. When will you grow up, dobe?!"

"I've done a lot more growing up than you have teme! I've suffered much of the same pain you have and I've learned from it and moved on, which is more than I can say for you!"

This heated banter was getting them nowhere. An idea flashed into Sasuke's mind and he appeared behind Sakura with a kunai held to her neck. His speed had caught her off guard and she felt helpless in the moment. He turned her so that they faced Naruto and Sai better. "Let's take off your mask. I want to see if you are still as beautiful as you were when last I saw you," he said as he slowly removed Sakura's mask and dropped it on the ground. "There, that's more like it"

"Sasuke-kun," Karin started to say as he gave her a warning glare meant to stop her before she said anything else. She had started to move toward them and he could tell she wasn't too happy about him having another woman in his arms; even if it was at the point of a kunai.

"Karin, Jugo, take care of those two if they try anything. I just want to thank Sakura for the nice letter she sent me," he said with a knowing smirk.

Naruto's voice cracked as he asked Sakura "What letter?"

She could tell he was hurting. This was not what she had intended when she had asked Sasuke to meet with her.

"Sakura sent me a very nice letter asking me to meet her here," he said sounding sickly sweet, cutting in before she had had a chance to respond. "I'm assuming that she wanted to tell me that she still has feelings for me." He wanted to get a reaction from the tall blonde and he could see that he wasn't going to have to work too hard to get one. Jealousy had sunk its claws into his former teammate at the sight of Sakura in his arms.

"Liar!" Naruto couldn't hold back his anger and ripped off his mask. "Sakura, tell me he's lying."

Sakura couldn't stand to see the hurt in Naruto's eyes. "It's true, I sent him a letter asking him to meet me here," she said with her voice wavering, "but I swear, Naruto, that's all. I just wanted all of this to end."

He could see a tear fall down her cheek as she said this. Naruto wanted to believe her with all his heart, but the Uchiha was starting to get under his skin. Sai went to attack Sasuke, but Jugo shot out a curse-enhanced arm that knocked him back; knocking off his mask in the process. Sasuke's next move had them all surprised as he spun Sakura around and kissed her full on the mouth in one move. His long black bangs covered part of Sakura's face leaving her reaction all up to Naruto's imagination.

"See, lips don't lie," Sasuke said sounding rather triumphant as he released Sakura from the kiss. Sakura was in too much shock to react, but her eyes were wide with disbelief at what Sasuke had just done.

No one was paying attention to Karin through all of this until they heard her scream in rage charging at Sasuke and Sakura with a kunai in her hand. She looked like she could have been demon possessed as her red eyes flashed. She ran full force into Sakura, driving the kunai deep into her back before even Sasuke could react. Sakura cried in pain as Karin seemed almost overjoyed at harming the woman in her Sasuke's arms. Sasuke was still holding Sakura but she collapsed as soon as Karin pulled the kunai, dripping in blood from her back. Sasuke looked none too happy with his teammate. He stepped over to Karin, grabbed her by the shoulders and was dangerously close to her face. Things happened so fast that only a well trained shinobi would have been able to follow Karin and Sasuke's movements.

"What the hell is up with you, Karin!" Sasuke shouted as events were now obviously out of his control.

"How dare you kiss that…that…that thing!" she shot back at him hiding none of her rage over what he did. "What did she ever do to deserve your attention?!"

"I'll do whatever I please! You had absolutely _no right _to interfere as you did! Let's go before I decide to leave you here with them!" Sasuke shouted as he shoved her to the ground and then turned on his heal. "This isn't the end, dobe. I'll be back to finish what I started." With that, he disappeared from sight followed by a solemn Jugo and a furious Karin.

Naruto ran to where Sakura lay, picking her up and cradling her against his chest as he glared at Sasuke. "Believe it, coward, this changes everything!" He looked down at Sakura with deep blue eyes full of hurt and rage.

Sakura almost couldn't bear to look at them as they pierced her own jade green eyes searching for answers. She could catch the faintest hint of red in his eyes. Pain from her wound was shooting through her, making it hard for her to focus on anything but the pain in her back and the pain in his eyes.

"Kami-sama, why? I…I want that image to disappear from my mind. That image of his lips on yours," he said in anguish as he bent down and kissed her on the lips to the point that she felt like melting into him. She could taste the salt water from his tears on her lips as they kissed.

'Why did it have to happen this way? Why couldn't our lives just be normal?' she asked herself. He finally pulled away from her long enough for them to catch their breaths. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest, which also increased the amount of blood that was seeping from her wound. Tears were streaming down her face. She cried out as the motion of him pulling back pulled at her wound just enough to send pain shooting through her body.

Her broken voice tried to sooth his rage as she said, "Naruto, you know that it meant _nothing_. I only wanted to convince him to stop leading you on some wild goose chase. I just wanted all of us to move on with our lives. Please, don't do this. He just wants to get to you, don't let him."

Naruto just nodded in response. He looked back to where they had last seen the Uchiha. There was no way he could track him right now. Sakura was hurt and he needed to get her to the hospital. Besides, the Hokage had strictly forbid him from leaving the village so he would just have to wait for him to make the next move. The blonde ANBU picked her up bridal style and took off like a man possessed toward the hospital. Sai just stood there watching them leave for a moment as he processed what he just witnessed. When he was sure that no one would follow his friends, he took off after them across the rooftops.

Naruto burst into Tsunade's office with the wounded Sakura in his arms. Sakura had lost enough blood now that her face was a ghostly white. Tsunade jumped up from behind her desk and raced to where the young ANBU stood in the doorway.

"What happened?" she asked as she hurriedly began to check Sakura's injuries.

"It was Karin, she…" Naruto couldn't finish his sentence.

"Taka surprised us and Sakura was stabbed by a kunai," Sai offered as he stepped up behind Naruto.

Tsunade led them down the hall to the first empty room she could find and Naruto laid her on the bed. Tsunade removed Sakura's armor in order to get a better look at her wound. Sakura winced at the motion and she squeezed Naruto's hand. He refused to leave her side as Tsunade examined her. She managed to get the wound to stop bleeding before she motioned for Naruto and Sai to step outside of the room. Naruto reluctantly let go of Sakura's hand and gave her a kiss on the forehead before following Tsunade out the door.

Tsunade's face was grave when she turned to face the two unmasked ANBU members. "Sakura was stabbed in a very vital point. I was able to stop the bleeding for now, but she is far from being out of danger. She's lost a lot of blood and I just hope that it isn't too much." Tsunade gave Naruto a sympathetic look before she continued. "Naruto, I'm going to have to get her into surgery as soon as possible. I'm sorry, but I won't know any more until then."

Naruto just nodded as Tsunade walked down the hall in order to organize the staff and equipment needed before they moved Sakura. Sai just put a hand on Naruto's shoulder before the blonde ANBU went back into Sakura's room. Sakura had already passed out from the loss of blood so he just brushed some of the hair from her face and gave her a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room. Sai could see a tear fall from his eye as Naruto walked toward him. Naruto just hung his head as they walked toward the waiting room. Neither of them seemed to care that they had their masks off or that everyone watched as they walked past.

They found a spot in the waiting room where Naruto sat down, hanging his head looking rather dejected. Sai sat across from him and they sat in silence for a long time.

Sai was the first to break the silence. "So, I take it you and Sakura are a lot more than best friends?"

Naruto just nodded his answer. It felt like the floodgates would open if he tried to speak.

Sai was about to question his friend further when Ino came up to them in her nurse's uniform. "I heard Sakura's injured. Is everything alright?" She looked at Naruto and then to Sai.

"Tsunade says it doesn't look good," Sai offered an answer motioning with his eyes toward Naruto. Ino took the silent cue and knew that the situation was hitting the other blonde hard. "Tsunade is getting her ready for surgery."

"I understand. I'll go see if Tsunade-sama needs any help. Do you two need anything before I go?" she asked Sai. Naruto just shook his head and Sai replied in the negative. Ino gave Naruto a gentle squeeze on the shoulder before turning to leave. She'd never seen Naruto this broken up before and they had been through a lot together over the years. She stopped a young Genin in the hall who happened to be working as a runner that day and told her to call Sakura's parents to the hospital. If things were as bad as Sai said, Sakura's parents would want to be here.

Back in the waiting room, Sai and Naruto were approached by an ANBU member that was a part of their shift. Sai left Naruto alone while he went to talk to the ANBU. The young woman said that the encounter had been witnessed from a distance by other members of ANBU and that the commander insisted that she question him and Naruto as to what had happened. However, Sai convinced her that now was not a good time and he would turn his report in as soon as he was able.

"I want you to tell the commander that Taka was just outside the village and that they may still be nearby. Consider them armed and very dangerous. Our teammate was injured and we will stay here until further notice. Understand?" Sai gave her a very stern look and she knew he was serious. Sai outranked her and she knew that to disobey an order was not a pleasant idea.

"Understood, Senpai," she said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Sai sat down and pulled out a scroll. He proceeded to write out the account of that afternoon before changing it into one of his artworks in the shape of a bird. He walked to the window and opened it, allowing the ink bird to fly out the window and toward ANBU headquarters. He turned back toward where Naruto was sitting and sat back down in the seat across from him.

Naruto seemed to have gained control of himself before looking up at his friend. "What did she want?" he asked.

"She just wanted our report. Don't worry I didn't put anything in there that would embarrass you," he replied with a half smile.

"Thanks," was all he replied. He let out a deep sigh before sitting back in his chair. He had forgotten the ninjato (short sword) on his back, but remembered to remove it as soon as he leaned against the wall. "I suppose you want to know the story behind my reaction this afternoon?"

"Not if you don't want to tell me," his friend answered.

Naruto studied his hands that still had some of Sakura's blood on them. He took a deep breath before he began. "I might as well get this off my chest. All hell might break loose if the Hokage finds out so you might as well hear it from me." Naruto let out a sigh before continuing. "Sakura and I have been together for almost five years now, ever since we came back from that mission where you got that concussion."

Sai nodded. "Yea, I remember that mission. I remember that you seemed rather pissed off at the world too. I also remember that by the time we went on our next mission you were perfectly fine. I never could understand why you were acting so weird. Now it makes sense. So why the secrecy?"

"We never meant for it to go on this long. At first we were just afraid of how everyone would respond; Sakura especially worried about Ino's reaction." Sai smiled at this knowing full well how nosy his ex-girlfriend could be. "After Danzo became Hokage, we just found that our relationship would interfere with his plans for Konoha. He was already doing his best to ruin my life so I didn't want to give him anything he could use against me. That was even _before_ he gave me the order to remain single. Now I've gone and ruined everything taking Sakura right along with me. She must have sent that letter after that fight we had. This is all my fault," he thought out loud, hanging his head so that his long bangs covered his eyes. Naruto winced at the memory of Sasuke kissing Sakura and the enraged reaction of Karin, as he mentally beat himself up over not having been able to prevent any of it.

"Naruto, I wish I knew what to say to you now, but there are no books that cover this kind of situation as far as I know. But whatever happens, I'll be here for the both of you."

"Thanks," Naruto said trying to give him a small smile.

At that moment, Sakura's parents rushed in and saw Naruto and Sai sitting in the waiting room. Sakura's mom looked panicked and her father had a very serious expression on his face. Her mother walked up to Naruto and gave him a hug. He wasn't sure what to do at first, but he returned her hug anyway. Naruto could hear her starting to cry before she pulled away a bit to look him in the face.

"Ino sent a message that Sakura is injured and we came as soon as possible. Is she OK?" Sakura's mom asked, but she could tell from Naruto's expression and the blood drying all over his uniform that she was not.

"Tsunade has her in surgery. We're waiting until she's done," answered Sai on Naruto's behalf.

Naruto just turned his face away. He could see the same pain on her mother's face that was trying to break his own heart. Sakura's mother just nodded her head and stood up. Sakura's father put a hand on Naruto's shoulder before taking a seat. Her mother gave Naruto a kiss on the forehead before sitting next to her husband. This would have been awkward for him if he hadn't confessed his feelings for their daughter a little over a week ago.

They could hear the thunder start to rumble even as they sat there in the hospital waiting room. Everyone sat in silence waiting to hear from someone, anyone, about Sakura's condition. Naruto couldn't sit still any longer. He got up and walked down the hall toward the large bay windows that looked out over the hospital's atrium. He was completely unaware of Kakashi as the retired ANBU came into the waiting room and sat next to Sai. The sky had grown very dark and he looked up at the clouds as the rain began to fall and hit the windowpane. The weather seemed to be matching his feelings as the rain fell harder and harder. He fingered the box he forever had in his pocket and let out a painful sigh. He didn't know what he would do if he lost her now. He was finally ready to ask her to marry him when this happened. If she were to leave now she would never know how much he truly loved her.

Naruto shook these thoughts from his mind. Now was not the time to be thinking like this. 'She'll be just fine,' he said to himself. He tried to play happy memories of her in his mind, but they didn't seem to make the pain in his heart go away; they only made it worse. He put his right fist upon the window and bowed his head. 'I wish someone would just tell me what's going on!' he screamed mentally. To him this was worse than any genjutsu he'd ever experienced.

Just then, Shizune could be seen coming down the hall. She saw Naruto by the window and went to talk to him first.

"Naruto," she said softly so as not to make him jump. "Tsunade wishes to see you now."

"How is she?" he asked hardly controlling the emotion in his voice.

"I'll let Tsunade fill you in on the details. She's stable but in critical condition," Shizune said with a look that spoke volumes.

Naruto nodded and turned to go in the direction of Sakura's room where Shizune had said the former Hokage was waiting. Shizune proceeded to inform the others waiting in the waiting room of Sakura's condition. Sakura's parents understood and went to follow Naruto. Sai was left behind by himself since Kakashi had already left to take care of some other business.

Sai knew that now was not the time to interfere and he let Shizune know that if Naruto asked, he would be getting in touch with the rest of their friends about Sakura's injury. The art jutsu user wanted the gang to hear it from him before the rumors started, sending everyone filing into the hospital to see her. Right now was a time for her family to take care of her. He also didn't want to allow anyone else to see Naruto this way. It would make things more complicated if word of the young Sage's relationship were to spread during his most vulnerable moment.

Tsunade was waiting for Naruto in the hall when he arrived. She looked a little less worried than she did the last time he had seen her, but she still looked very serious. "Naruto, she's stable right now. I just wanted you to know that the surgery went better than expected. She had apparently tried to heal herself on the way over here, which helped to stop some of the damage caused by the kunai . I'm sure you realize that the kunai she was stabbed with was no normal kunai," Tsunade paused looking for a reaction from the young man.

Naruto nodded, "I had a feeling there was something different about it when she collapsed the way she did."

"The kunai was barbed and laced with a poison; the likes of which is very hard to counter. The barbs caused a lot of damage as the kunai was pulled from Sakura's body but it's the poison that worries me. I've sent a message to the Nara household for some help in researching it. Sakura is strong and she already has some resistance, but it may not be enough. If we are not able to come up with an antidote, I expect her to last at most three days. She's also lost a lot of blood. We will continue to give her a blood transfusion until her levels return to normal. She's sleeping now, but you are free to go in and see her."

"Thank you Tsunade-baachan," he said. The older blonde reached over and gave him a hug. He wasn't sure how long his defenses would hold up with all the attention he was getting. He allowed only a few tears to fall before going in to see Sakura. Naruto closed the door behind him and pulled up a chair next to her bed. Sitting down beside her, he brushed some of the pink locks from her face. Sakura was still very pale from the loss of blood and the surgery, but she was sleeping peacefully. He took her hand in his and released all the emotion he had been holding back. The tall blonde's broad shoulders shook as he sat with his face buried in his other hand.

In the hallway outside of her room, Sakura's parents were the next ones Tsunade informed about her condition. They knew that Naruto would want to be alone with their daughter for a while, so they just peeked in the small window in the door before turning to go back to the waiting room. This was their daughter, but it was the love of his life and it was only fair to let him be alone with her right now.

End Chapter 7


	8. Questions

Busy week, so I'm sorry if this thank you isn't as personal as always. Thanks to Icekrim91, x NINJABLADE45x, Claudita, pharix, wind797, celious2, habu2010, and Gravenimage for your reviews.

Thanks to all of you who added this story to your alert and favorite lists. I know I left you all with a major cliffhanger, so lets get this show on the road.

**All Naruto characters belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto****. The story is only about what could be. I like some angst, but lets hope Kishimoto-sama makes it way better than this.  
**

ANBU Gaiden

Chapter 8

Hatake Kakashi was wet, cold and frustrated. He walked, head hung down, with his hands shoved deep into his pockets as walked along the muddy streets of the village. The sheets of rain that were falling from the sky had ended his mission prematurely and he was on his way to the hospital to put to rest some of the suspicions that plagued his mind. The retired ANBU's day had not gone well and after the meeting he had had with the Hokage that morning, he wasn't too surprised.

_Falshback: _

"_Bring me Hatake Kakashi! I need him here immediately," ordered the rokudaime Hokage._

"_Os," answered his personal ANBU before disappearing in a puff of smoke._

_He had Sai's report on the desk before him. His one eye scanned the information as he transferred the key details on to another piece of paper. Kakashi knocked on the door before he entered the room._

"_You called for me Hokage-sama," the tracking expert said as he entered the room._

"_Yes, I need you to track down a rouge ninja and his team who fought with members of ANBU this morning on the far eastern boarder of Konoha. They were unable to track him and his team due to injuries so I need your special talents," the Hokage said while handing Kakashi a simplified and nameless version of the report._

"_May I ask who was injured, Hokage-sama?" _

"_That is none of your concern. Right now, I need you to track these rouges and locate them before anything further occurs. Understood?"_

"_Hai, Hokage-sama." Kakashi exited the room and made his way out of the Hokage mansion before calling his nin-dogs. _

"_The nine ninja hounds reporting for duty," Pakkun said when they appeared._

"_Pakkun, I want you to go to the east side of the village and find any unfamiliar scents and start tracking them. I don't want them to be aware of your presence, so take extra precautions," Kakashi said as he showed the little dog where to start searching on the map. "A rouge ninja and his team ran into some ANBU about right here, so there may be more than one scent. Any blood present may be that of the ANBU members, so look for the scent that moves away from Konoha. I will be at the hospital if you find anything."_

"_Understood," said the little dog. With that, the retired ANBU watched the receding figures of his pack as all nine dogs raced off towards the sight of the recent battle. Kakashi had things he needed to find out and headed toward the hospital. He had a bad feeling about who was involved and he wanted confirmation before he pursued this rouge ninja. What little writing on the scroll that he had seen opened on the Hokage's desk looked way too much like Sai's. If that was the case, Naruto and Sakura were possibly involved, which led him to believe he had a serious problem on his hands._

_The fact that the Hokage seemed to be withholding information from him did not sit well with the veteran Jounin. The weather was starting to turn bad quick. Kakashi needed to talk to Sai and if his instincts were correct, he would be at the hospital. When he arrived he saw Sai sitting in the waiting room along with Sakura's parents, but there was no sign of Naruto. It struck him as odd that Sai was in full ANBU gear except his mask._

"_Sai," Kakashi said as he sat down next to the young ANBU captain._

"_Kakashi-sensei," Sai said not looking surprised at all by the Jounin's appearance. "I assume you are here about Sakura?"_

"_Sakura?" Kakashi's one visible eyebrow was raised in astonishment. "The Hokage gave me a tracking mission based on a report I believe that you wrote, but tell me what happened to Sakura first."_

_Sai filled Kakashi in on what had happened that afternoon with team Taka. He was careful to leave out the part dealing with Naruto's reaction since he was unaware that Kakashi already knew about Naruto and Sakura. _

_Kakashi let out a sigh when the young man had finished his account of the incident. "How is Sakura now?" he asked._

"_She's in surgery right now. They have not been out to report how she's doing yet." _

"_I understand. I think I'll go check on my nin-dogs. I have a feeling that if we don't get some clues soon whatever trail they left behind will be washed away by this storm. Also, knowing Sasuke he's even stronger than before and I'm not in a hurry to find out how strong without backup."_

"_I understand. I'm surprised that Danzo-sama didn't give you any backup," Sai said with concern in his expression._

"_I'm not. He's underestimating the young Uchiha which is not a good move. I learned early on to never underestimate anyone from the Uchiha clan, no matter what."_

_Just then, a little dog appeared in the hallway, panting hard._

"_Pakkun," Kakashi said. _

"_Kakashi, we found their scent and the others are currently tracking them," said the little dog in between breaths._

"_Understood. I must get going, Sai. Ja na," Kakashi said before turning to follow the nin-dog._

_End Flashback_

Kakashi found Sakura's parents in the hospital's waiting room with Ino. The young med-ninja smiled at him as he approached. Ino bid Sakura's parents farewell since she had a feeling they would want to talk with Kakashi alone. They thanked Ino for being such a good friend to Sakura and she smiled before turning to go back to her duties.

"Haruno-san, how are you doing?" Kakashi asked Sakura's father.

"I wish we could meet under different circumstances. I'm assuming you heard about Sakura?" her father said as he stood in greeting. Sakura's mother was no longer on the verge of tears, but remained seated as their daughter's former teacher approached.

"Hai, Haruno-san. Have you been allowed to see her yet?"

"She has company at the moment," her father said. His facial expressions were easy for the Jounin to read and he knew whom her company was.

"I see. If you'll excuse me, I need to speak with Tsunade-sama." With that, he walked down the hall toward her office. He needed to know exactly how Sakura was injured just in case he ended up doing more than just tracking Sasuke and his team. In hardly any time at all, Kakashi found himself in front of the office door of the former Hokage.

_Knock, Knock_

"Enter."

"Domo Tsunade-sama. I hear you have a new patient."

"Kakashi. I'm not surprised to see you here. I'm assuming that you want to know how Sakura is doing?" Tsunade said as she sat behind her desk, which was covered in opened medical manuals. Her current office was much smaller than her old one, yet her faithful Tonton was lounging in front of her desk just as she was accustom to do in the Hokage's mansion.

"I spoke with her parents and Sai already. I was more interested in the details of her injury as it seems I'm in charge of finding the ones who did this to her," he said as he leaned against the door frame.

"Why don't you have a seat and I'll fill you in," she said motioning to the chair in front of her desk. Kakashi took a seat and she proceeded in filling him in with her version of the story.

"How is Naruto holding up?" he asked his former Hokage.

"I haven't seen him this bad since Jiraiya died. No one is saying what set off that red head of Sasuke's, but it must have been bad enough to make her stab Sakura like that." Tsunade leaned her elbows onto her desk and rested her chin on her clasped hands. "I just hope that between me and Nara Shikaku, we can figure out how to beat this thing before it starts to destroy her cells. Naruto refuses to leave her side and he's refused all offers of food. I think what he needs right now is to be alone with her. Did he tell you if he's asked her yet?" she asked obviously aware of where Naruto and Sakura's relationship was at the moment.

"I know he had finally asked Sakura's parents for their blessing. It may be worth it to have Yamato keep an eye on him just in case this sends him over the edge and he goes after Sasuke by himself," the Jounin thought out loud. "I know there may not be much anyone can do if he loses control, but at least Yamato might be able to slow him down."

"Good idea Kakashi. Why don't you send word to Yamato to check in on Naruto as soon as he is able. I'll also let you know what I find out about this poison in case we need to distribute an antidote before we have to face Sasuke and his friends."

"Understood," Kakashi said before turning to go.

"Take care, Kakashi," she said before turning back to her research. She didn't want to waste any more time as she needed to work fast in order to find an antidote for Sakura. The poison wasn't complex, but if she didn't get the antidote just right there was no telling what the lingering effects could be on Sakura's system.

* * *

Naruto sat near Sakura's hospital bed. He held her left hand with both of his. Her hand seemed so small and delicate in between his two larger tan ones. His hands were rough and boney but thanks to the Kyuubi, they didn't have any scars. Sakura's on the other hand were covered in small scars resulting from hours of hitting objects with her fists. They were not the soft, manicured hands that most girls took pride in maintaining. They were hard working hands, rough and chapped from how often she washed them whenever she worked in the hospital and from the constant abuse she put them through out on the battle field.

It was late evening and the dark sky made it seem later in the day than it really was. The rain was now falling gently against the windowpane. All that could be heard in the small hospital room was the gentle tapping of rain on the window and the beeping of the monitor attached to Sakura. Naruto stroked her hand gently with his fingers; mindlessly tracing the lines and the scars as he was deep in his thoughts. This was the love of his life and now he might lose her. His tears had dried up several hours before and now he was just in a daze.

Nurses came by every half hour or so to check on her vitals and to change out the IV or blood bag if need be. Tsunade had come by a couple of times as well, but she seemed more interested in how Naruto was doing since Sakura was stable. Sakura's parents had finally come in to join him at her side for a while, but had decided that it was best to leave him alone with her. Yamato had also stopped by to check on Naruto as soon his ANBU shift had ended, but had gone home when it was obvious that Naruto was unwilling to leave her side. They all came and went, unseen by the young blonde.

It was near midnight and light streaming in through the small window in the door dimly lit the room. The stream of light illuminated Sakura's face as she remained unconscious. He seemed lost in a time warp and it never occurred to him how long he had truly been sitting there by her side. He just watched as her chest rose and fell with each breath and he was secretly scared that the next one would be her last. Naruto absentmindedly stuck a hand in his pocket where the ring seemed to be ever-present. He fingered the box as he had done many times before, but this time he pulled it out and opened it revealing the engagement ring within. He subconsciously pulled it from its resting place and began to mentally trace the lines of its design.

He had spent so much of his free time that week just making sure that the design was perfect and that the jeweler was able to make it strong and durable. It was of a tough silver metal, but the jeweler had made it look as elegant as any other engagement ring. On the silver band was engraved the branch of a cherry tree in bloom. A delicate ribbon was engraved in such a way that it twisted around and through the design of the cherry branch. One of the blossoms was hallowed out and a diamond was deeply set within. Beautiful, strong, and delicate just like his little cherry blossom. His "little Sakura no hana" which was the name he called her while they were in those tender moments. Inside was inscribed "Aishiteru my Sakura no hana" in kanji. It had cost him quite a bit and they really didn't pay that well when you were in ANBU, contrary to popular belief.

"Sakura," he began in a broken voice. His voice was ragged as he hadn't had anything to drink since before they started their patrol that morning. Naruto attempted to clear his voice before he continued. "Sakura, I had picked this out just for you. Tsunade-baachan isn't sure if you're going to wake up before tomorrow, but she thinks that you are able to hear me. I know you said that you don't like wearing jewelry because it's not practical and you're afraid that it would break if you wore it into battle. I have been thinking about this for way too long and it's about time that I just suck it up and tell you how much I really love you. I want you to be my wife, but I'm afraid. I'm afraid of being alone again. I was afraid that you wouldn't want someone who wasn't strong enough to keep promises, that you would reject me because I hadn't kept my promise to bring Sasuke back. I was afraid that after all we've been through you didn't really love me as much as I love you. I was afraid of what the Hokage would do if he found out about us. Now, I'm afraid you won't … (he choked up at this point), that you won't be able to know how much I love you."

He didn't notice it, but Sakura's eyes began to flutter as she was slowly regaining consciousness. Her body was heavy with the effects of the poison, but she had been woken by Naruto's almost inaudible voice speaking to her. Naruto had his eyes glued to the ring as he slowly placed it on her finger. He had guessed her size from a string he had used when she took a nap at his place one afternoon. Fortunately, it fit perfectly. He continued to stroke the design as he held her hand in his.

"Sakura," he continued as her eyes slowly focused enough to realize it was Naruto who was sitting next to her. "I wanted to ask you to marry me. I even talked to your parents about it and they said they would give their blessing. I don't want to go on if I don't have you by my side. Please just come back to me," he pleaded. A single tear made its way down his tan cheek.

"Naruto?" said the faintest of whispers.

His head snapped up at the faint whisper that sounded like Sakura saying his name. He was surprised to see her pale face turned towards him and she was looking at him through her hazy jade green eyes.

"Sakura?" he said between elation and dread.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Sakura, what do you mean 'yes'?" he asked not realizing how much of his speech she had heard.

"I'm not sure what all you said, but yes to the last part. Yes, I'll marry you," she said. Her voice was so quiet that he had to lean in closer to make sure he heard her right.

"I don't know if I can remember all of it well enough to say it again," he said. His voice breaking from all the emotions he was feeling at once. The realization of what had just happened suddenly struck him. A great big smile spread across his face as the tears started to freely fall. He kissed her hand, which he still held in his before leaning down to kiss her gently on the lips. She was still so weak that she could just barely return the kiss as tears started to mist up her already hazy focus.

"I love you Sakura, with all my heart," he said as he sat back down in his chair. He held her hand against his face and stroked the hair out of her face. She had just enough strength to move a single finger back and forth on his whisker marks. He nuzzled her hand in response, but he was still too scared to touch her any more than that in fear of hurting her or that he would wake up and the dream would be all over.

"I love you too, Uzumaki Naruto," she whispered as tears of joy and pain ran down her cheeks.

* * *

"Naruto. Naruto, wake up dear. I'll take care of her, you just go get some breakfast," an older woman's voice said stirring him from his sleep. She was opening the curtains, allowing the sun to shine brightly into the hospital room. He had fallen asleep in his chair, his upper body rested on the bed on top of Sakura's arm. He was still holding her hand. Naruto sat up groggily trying to remember where he was.

"What time is it?" he said squinting and rubbing sleep from his eyes. Naruto's muscles complained as he sat up and he began working the ache out of his stiff neck with his free hand.

"It's ten o'clock, but you might still be able to get something to eat in the cafeteria before it closes," Tsunade said as she walked around the bed in order to finish checking Sakura's vital signs. She adjusted an IV bag that looked like it had some sort of yellow liquid in it before starting the drip into Sakura's arm.

"What's that?" he asked missing nothing.

"Shikaku and I managed to figure out that poison while you were passed out here next to Sakura. She should be fine in a couple of hours. She should be up and about in a few days," the Sannin said smiling a triumphant smile. She could almost see the worry melt from his being as he realized what she had just said.

He jumped up and ran to give the former Hokage a great big hug. She had to let out a laugh at his enthusiastic behavior. Tsunade hadn't seen him like this in a very long time. The realities of life had slowly started to etch away his overly exuberant nature and she was just glad to see that the cares of life hadn't done too much damage. Naruto stood back a step but still held Tsunade by the shoulders.

"Baachan, if that's the case I want to ask you a favor," he said with the biggest smile she'd seen in a long time plastered to his face.

"Anything Naruto," she replied.

"Will you marry us as soon as she's better? As the former Hokage you can do that right?" he asked.

"Aren't you supposed to ask her first?" she said as her eyes teased him. Naruto had grown so much over the past few years she had to look up at him in order to look him in the eye.

"I proposed last night. I didn't know if she would be alright and I just couldn't wait any longer. She woke up long enough to say yes. Please Baachan, it would mean the world to us," he pleaded.

"Very well Naruto, I'll see what I can do, but I want to have a long talk with you two before that happens. Now, as the chief medical officer of this hospital, I'm ordering you to go down and get some breakfast before I have to admit you to the hospital too," she teased despite the serious tone she used.

"Hai, Tsunade-baachan," he saluted just like he use to do when she was Hokage. "Let Sakura know I'll be right back if she wakes up will you."

"Yes Naruto. You'd better hurry before there isn't anything left," Tsunade said trying her hardest not to laugh at his enthusiasm.

With that, he practically ran out the door and down the hall. This was the happiest morning of his life. Sakura would be fine, she would be his, and they would be married soon. Not once did the thought of revenge against Taka and Sasuke enter his mind. His thoughts were consumed by Sakura, the woman who would soon be his wife. His stomach started to rumble its complaint at not having had anything in it for way too long and he hurried into the cafeteria. 'Now, it's time to eat and celebrate how awesome life is, dattebayo.'

* * *

"Sasuke-kun?" Karin said in her soft girlish tone.

"I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone, especially you!" Sasuke seethed. The Uchiha was sitting on a rock with his back towards Karin, apparently working on something spread before him on a larger flat rock next to him.

Something had been bugging him since the meeting with his former teammates. Sasuke had pushed buttons expecting one reaction and had received another. Sakura had tried to reason with him as expected, but she was doing it for the dobe. And that kiss, she was cold and stiff without any attempt to return it. Jealousy had blindsided Naruto after that kiss and Sasuke thought Naruto was infuriated enough to actually try to kill him, no holds barred. The dobe hadn't even given his expected speech about brotherhood or saving him from paths of hatred and revenge. 'Am I loosing my edge? Has so much changed between us that I can't read them anymore?' the Uchiha thought to himself. He shook his head a bit to shake these doubts from his mind. He didn't need to be thinking about this right now. Sasuke needed to focus on his goals and he didn't need these thoughts distracting him now.

Karin cautiously came toward him with a cup of tea in each hand. She sat the cup of tea down on the rock that he was using as a table before retreating. Sasuke was dangerous to approach when he was like this and she knew that going against his order had been a serious mistake. At any rate, Karin needed to go find Jugo. With Sasuke lost in his own thoughts, their teammate had been having a harder time controlling his urges and she didn't like to leave him alone for very long. She shot the Uchiha one last look before she left, his back still facing her as she could hear him saying something to himself, but she was no longer close enough to hear his words.

"I have had enough of this messing around with fate. This will be the final attempt to rid myself of that dobe and get my revenge on Konoha once and for all," Sasuke hissed as he focused on the layout of his plans before him. As much as his former teammate's reactions had him puzzled, it didn't really matter in the long run. While he formulated his strategy he thought to himself, 'All of Konoha will pay for this hell I'm in and I don't care if I have to take it with me to do it.'

End Chapter 8


	9. The Next Step

Love all the reviews, favorites and alerts. Gravenimage, Habu 2010, wind797, celious2, xNNIJABLADE45x, Dmanplayer723, and Terminatorman100. I know that you were all excited to see the proposal finally happen, but that's only the first step...

This chapter would have been out sooner, but for those of you that don't read my other story, I've been playing Dr. Mom as well as fighting a cold myself.

And a happy belated birthday to Naruto!

**All Naruto characters belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto****. The story is only about what could be if Danzo actually lives through the next part in the Manga.**

ANBU Gaiden

Chapter 9

"Good afternoon, sleepy head," Naruto said as he stroked the hair away from Sakura's face as she slowly opened her eyes. She had been sleeping since the previous night's proposal and once the antidote had started to work; she sank into a deep, peaceful sleep. Since his run to the cafeteria earlier that morning, Naruto had returned to his position at her side. He refused to leave her side since then, but her parents, his future in-laws, had brought him some bento when they came to check on their daughter. They had heard from Tsunade that he hadn't eaten much since the day before and this was their way of showing Naruto that they were worried about him too. With a little persuasion from Sai, their ANBU captain had given him this one day off, but he was to report first thing in the morning for duty. Naruto had wanted to be there when she had regained conscience, but by the time she finally opened her eyes it was late afternoon.

Sakura glanced around the room, the late afternoon light cast long shadows in the room. Working there as much as she did, she hadn't realized how white and stale it appeared when you were a patient. She turned her head ever so slightly before focusing on the face of her fiancé. He was still in his ANBU uniform that was stained with the remnants of the previous day's confrontation. His spiky blonde hair was a mess and was leaning a little to the side, like Kakashi's, from the way he had been sleeping with his head on her bed. However, he was what her heart had desired to see and he was the handsomest man she had ever seen. His fingers were interlaced in her own and she could tell that he was still very worried about her.

"What time is it?" she asked. Her throat felt dry and she wasn't able to speak much louder than a whisper. "Could I get a drink of water?"

Naruto reached for a cup that was sitting next to her bed and assisted her in sitting up just enough to take a sip.

"It's almost 4 O'clock. You've been sound asleep for almost sixteen hours," the blonde replied. "Baachan says you're going to be just fine and that you should just take it easy for a while."

Sakura could tell by the relief in his eyes that everything would be fine, eventually. Her body was still very stiff and weak. Not wanting to overdo it, she allowed Naruto to help her drink the remaining water in her cup before asking any more questions. "Naruto, have you been here this whole time?" she asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, I couldn't let you stay here alone, dattebayo," he replied. "There'll be plenty of time to go after that teme later."

Sakura cringed at the thought of Naruto on a new quest for revenge. "Naruto, I don't want you to chase after Sasuke. It was a mistake for me to get in touch with him. I've brought this upon myself and I hope you can forgive both of us for what happened yesterday," Sakura replied, her voice barley wanting to cooperate. "I should have realized that Sasuke is too unpredictable to try to reason with."

"Sakura," he began. She knew he was serious because he didn't use the "–chan" ever present behind her name. "This wasn't your fault. I know you did this for me and even though it didn't go as planned…thank you for trying. We'll take care of that teme later. I'm not going off to do something rash, like always, so don't worry about me," he said covering his true feelings behind his infamous smile.

Sakura knew that fake smile all too well and would have hit him if she had any strength. "Don't you give me that fake smile, Naruto!" she snapped hoarsely. This caught him a little off guard, but he knew she had seen through his bravado. "I know you would like nothing better than to find Sasuke and kick his ass as soon as possible. I wanted to end it, not make it worse. I have a feeling he might be looking for an end too, or else he wouldn't have met with me. Naruto, promise me you won't go after him ever again. If you two have to fight, let him come to us. All I wanted was to live life without having to watch you flinch every time someone mentions Sasuke's name. Let's just live our life together and not care what's going on in the world around us," Sakura said with her jade eyes blazing.

Naruto nodded his head in response, knowing that she had taken advantage of his weakness. He could never refuse making her a promise and he would have carried on the conversation if there hadn't been a knock at the door. They released their hands and the door slid open to reveal Tsunade followed by Shizune who was holding Tonton. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that Sakura was still wearing the engagement ring and they hadn't had a chance to talk about the future or Danzo. Tsunade noticed this and stepped toward the blonde giving him a small box that she held in her hand. Naruto opened it up to find a silver chain.

"What's this for, Tsunade-baachan?"

"Now that Sakura's awake, I think we need to talk about some things that have been going on that will affect the two of you," the former Hokage said as she pulled up a chair. "I brought that chain so that Sakura can have something to hide that ring with. I have a feeling she's not going to want to let you have that back, even if it is to store it for a later date," Tsunade said with a knowing smile.

Sakura blushed while Naruto helped her to put the engagement ring on the necklace. She took it in her hand and looked it over once it was on the chain around her neck. She hadn't had the light or the strength to study it the night before and her tears pooled in her eyes when she read the words that were inscribed on the inside of the band.

Naruto settled back down in his seat before the Sannin related a little of what had been going on behind the scenes that neither of them had been aware of, Shizune nodding her head every so often as Tsunade spoke. Tsunade didn't go into any great detail, as the hospital was not the safest place to share secrets. They did learn just enough to make sense of some of the strange things that had been going on lately, such as Sai skipping out on lunch to meet with Kakashi. They also agreed, that it was better to keep their engagement a secret from the general public and wait a little while before getting married. This was only because Tsunade had said that there was a time for everything and now was not the time to break orders, at least _not __yet_. She had also hinted that something big was coming, but she wouldn't allude to what. Therefore, Sakura would now wear the ring on the chain around her neck until the day came that she could wear it openly.

The sun was beginning to set by the time Tsunade and Shizune's visit was over. She left the two ANBU alone saying that she still had much to do before the day was over. Once she and Shizune were gone, Naruto let out a nervous laugh and leaned back in his chair with his hands laced behind his head. Sakura couldn't help but let out a sigh. She was starting to feel sleepy again, but it seemed as if fate had other plans for her. She had only just put the ring inside her hospital gown when Ino showed up followed by the rest of team 10.

"Hey, Forehead, we heard you were awake and we decided that you could use some company," Ino said as Sakura looked in surprise at their friends. Ino had brought a small bouquet of flowers and Choji placed a fruit basket on the table beside the bed. Shikamaru looked bored and went to sit on the empty bed next to Naruto.

"Oi, Naruto, you look like hell," Shikamaru said rather bluntly.

Naruto just laughed, ran his fingers through his messy locks, and instead of responding to the comment asked, "so, how's Temari?"

Shikamaru just glared at him and mumbled, "She's fine; still not feeling well enough to eat much though."

"I'm sure she's not letting you forget why she's feeling bad either," offered the blonde kunoichi who could barely keep from laughing. "Maybe next time you'll remember to keep your pants on."

"Shut up, troublesome woman," Shikamaru said with a glare directed at his teammate. Everyone sure had a lot of fun at his expense lately. He was actually looking forward to becoming a dad, but the fact that the baby wasn't planned and that Temari was the representative of Suna had made things a little more interesting. Needless to say, Ino's teasing wasn't helping any new dad jitters he was feeling. However, he knew that Ino, no matter how much she was trying to piss him off, was excited about the baby. The shadow user had heard from Sakura that she was already planning to throw Temari a baby shower once she was in the third trimester. He also knew that Ino being in a relationship made comebacks a little easier to come by. "I'll be sure to pass the advice on to Mitsuhiro," Shikamaru teased, earning a glare from Ino in return. Her failure to respond meant that he had won this round.

Ignoring Shikamaru's smirk Ino said, "So, Sakura, how are you feeling? I've never seen you this pale and immobile before," as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I feel like someone stabbed me in the back. How else do you think I'd feel?" Sakura shot back even though she was too weak to sound dangerous.

"You may be injured, but you sound like the same ol' Sakura to me," Ino said, poking Sakura in the leg. Naruto shot her a glare, which surprised Ino a little bit. He always protected Sakura, but he seemed a little touchy today.

Sakura noticed his reaction, reached out to him with her hand as if to calm him down and he took hold briefly, giving it a squeeze before letting it go. Shikamaru caught the exchanged and he raised a single eyebrow in curiosity. He looked at Ino who just shrugged. Choji didn't seem to notice.

"So, Naruto, we were going out to the Bar-B-Q place with team 8 before we all set out on various assignments tomorrow and we wondered if you wanted to join us?" Choji asked.

Naruto glanced at Sakura who nodded, but he still looked uncertain as to what he would do. "Thanks for the offer guys, but I have to report early tomorrow and I still need to get this uniform cleaned up. Maybe next time," the blonde ANBU replied. He knew Sakura had silently communicated that she would be fine by herself, but he really wasn't in the mood for a crowd tonight.

"OK, suit yourself. That just leaves more for me," replied Choji with a shrug.

"Can't you think of anything besides your stomach?" Ino chided.

"That and there is a certain brunette working tonight," replied Shikamaru with a knowing smirk before Choji could answer.

Choji just laughed as his good-natured personality prevented any of Ino's comments to cause damage. He was use to her jabs and it wasn't just his middle that had become padded over the years.

Team 10 left as noisily as they had arrived, leaving Sakura and Naruto alone at last. Naruto finally brought himself to leave her side as she looked like she was ready to fall asleep and he really did need to get his uniform cleaned up before tomorrow. He gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead before turning to go. Sakura caught his hand and gave it a squeeze, earning a smile from him before he let go and walked out the door. He passed a nurse on the way out who was bringing Sakura some dinner.

* * *

One week after the incident with Taka, Naruto and Sakura were walking through town. She had her arm through Naruto's and since she was just released from the hospital, no one seemed to think anything of it. She was wearing her traveling cloak since the air was chilly after all the rain they had had that week, while he was wearing the sage coat. Ino had made Sakura promise that she would stop by the flower shop as soon as Tsunade had released her from the hospital. The blonde kunoichi had said that she had something important to talk to Sakura about, but wouldn't say what it was. They walked into the Yamanaka flower shop where they found Mitsuhiro working behind the counter.

"Naruto, Sakura, what may I help you with today?" Mitsuhiro asked.

"Is Ino here?" Sakura asked.

"She's upstairs. I'll go get her," he replied. Mitsuhiro disappeared behind the curtain that separated the house from the flower shop and it only took a few minutes before Ino appeared.

"Hey Naruto. Hi Sakura, they finally let you leave the hospital. How are you feeling?" Ino said.

"Much better. I still get a little tingling in my fingers and my skin itches like crazy from the blood transfusions, but Shiso thinks that will go away after a while," Sakura replied as Ino eyed the way Sakura's arm was laced through Naruto's.

Sakura just looked up at Naruto and he gave her a nod. "Well, I must be going. I have business to take care of with Kakashi so I'll catch up with you two later at the club."

"OK, I'll see you later. Do you mind taking my bag back to my apartment for me?" Sakura asked with a tender look in her eyes directed at Naruto. Ino just stood there, dazed and very confused, as she witnessed their interaction.

Sakura gave his arm a squeeze before letting it go. Naruto just gave her a wink and walked out the door of the shop with her bag slung up over his shoulder. He had a spring in his step that reminded Ino of the old Naruto and he walked away humming a nameless tune.

"What was that all about?" Ino asked. She was visibly confused and looked from Sakura down the street to where she could see Naruto's retreating figure. He had been acting weird since Sakura's injury and it hadn't escaped her notice. With his brokenness during her surgery and his animation now, she was going to have to find the underlying cause of this before her curiosity overcame her. Her own news would have to wait until she knew exactly what was going on between Sakura and Naruto.

"Ino, can I ask you to keep a secret?" Sakura asked getting Ino's attention. Sakura was practically jumping out of her skin with excitement as she pulled Ino toward a corner of the shop, far enough away that Mitsuhiro couldn't hear what they were talking about.

"Sure Forehead, what's going on?"

Sakura reached into the collar of the cloak and pulled out a ring that was hanging from her necklace and showed it to Ino. Ino wasn't quite sure what Sakura was getting at until she noticed the solitary diamond.

"Is this what I think it is?" Ino asked her friend as she practically ripped the ring from her hand pulling Sakura forward with her necklace. Sakura gave Ino a dirty look before she took her ring back and returned it to its hiding place.

"Naruto asked me to marry him and I want you to be my maid of honor," Sakura replied in a whisper, "but you can't tell anyone about this yet and I mean _anyone_!"

"Why not? And when may I ask did this happen? How did he propose? And Naruto?" Ino said shooting off the questions as fast as she could think of them.

"Because of an order from the Hokage. The night after I had surgery. I missed half of it while I was still unconscious. And yes, Naruto," Sakura said answering all of Ino's questions at once. A smile almost big enough to rival Naruto's was on her face.

Ino just had a jaw drop expression on her face as she was trying to process it all. How could she have been so completely clueless and trusting of what Sakura had said about Naruto before?

"Sakura, you have a lot of explaining to do and I'm not going to let you go until you answer all of my questions," the blonde kunoichi said as she practically drug Sakura out the door and toward her own apartment where the walls didn't have quite so many ears.

* * *

"Tsunade suspects something," hissed the hooded man.

"Of course she does. She's never attempted to hide her hatred for me. It does not matter if the threat is real or not, she has not been happy since she awoke from that coma almost five years ago. We will go ahead as planned," the Hokage said to his hooded guest.

"We will not be pleased if we fail," the hooded man hissed his response. "If we go down, we are taking you with us."

"Threats do not work with me. I have worked for far too long for it to end now," replied the Hokage. He revealed his right eye that held the stolen sharingan as if to prove a point. "No matter what the risks, I always get what I want."

* * *

Sakura and Ino sat on stools at a tall, round table near the dance floor waiting for the boys to return with their drinks. Sakura still felt a little weak so she was sticking to tea tonight. The antidote had worked well and the wound on her back was fully healed, but everything had taken its toll on her system. On the other hand, she was just glad to be out of the hospital and she felt like celebrating, no matter what. The best friends sat in a comfortable silence as they were enjoying the atmosphere of the club. The lights were low, save the ones that flashed out on the dance floor. The music was loud and carried a beat meant for dancing. Everyone seemed to have a drink in hand, at least the ones that weren't on the dance floor. They could just barely see the boys at the crowded bar waiting for their drinks to be served, but even for a ninja it was hard to make out familiar faces in the crowded room tonight. Naruto and Mitsuhiro finally returned to their table, each with drinks in both hands. Naruto, ever the tease, attempted to hand Sakura his drink before taking it back and giving her the cup of tea. Sakura just rolled her eyes at his playful mood. It was good to see him like this. So much had happened over the last few months and he needed this time away from the outside world as much as she did. Tonight it didn't matter what happened, they were together. True to her word, Ino had behaved herself with news of the engagement, but that didn't mean she couldn't invite everyone who was available to come hang out with them at the club tonight.

"So, who all is coming tonight?" Sakura asked Ino. "I know Sai isn't coming. He said he and Kakashi had something they had to take care of." She clasped the tea in both hands as its warmth helped to reduce the slight tingling she still felt in her fingers.

"Temari decided that her morning sickness is turning into all day sickness, so I don't think we'll see either her or Shikamaru here tonight. I think he's afraid to stay with her, but even more afraid of what she would do if he left her alone," Ino giggled. "Choji is on a mission with his Chuunin team. Neji and Tenten are coming, so I'm pretty sure Lee will be joining us. Speaking of which, Lee has been asking about you _every day_ since you were injured."

"Speaking of Lee…," Naruto said as they could all hear him making his own version of a dynamic entry into the club, minus the wall crashing down.

"Sakura-san, I heard you have made a full recovery. I have high hopes that we will see you back in the field soon," Lee said with his ever present wide eyed expression, squeezing between their fellow patrons and exclaiming his concern, loud enough to be heard over the music, before he was even half way across the room.

"Hello Lee," Sakura said blushing slightly from embarrassment. "Yes, I'm fine."

"As I expected of you, Sakura-san. If even Naruto-kun fails to protect you again, just let me know and I will protect you with the full power of youth!" he said just a little too loud, taking one of her hands in his as he spoke.

"Thank you Lee. I…I'll keep that in mind," Sakura said not knowing what else to say. Everyone was trying not to laugh, including Naruto even though he had just been insulted by the spandex wearing man.

Tenten and Neji we not very far behind Lee. Tenten had decided to go a little more feminine tonight and had on a mauve, sleeveless Chinese style dress that fell just below her knees. Naruto caught Neji admiring his teammate's new look, but Neji didn't seem to realize his attraction was obvious.

Hinata and Kiba were the last to arrive. They walked in holding hands and she looked so much more relaxed since becoming engaged that everyone noticed her new-found confidence. Sakura knew exactly how the Hyuuga heiress felt as a weight had been lifted off her own shoulders in a similar manner. It was amazing what the love of a man did for a woman. Confidence had been one of Hinata's weaknesses, but she had found her strength from somewhere she had never imagined. Kiba went to go get some drinks and Hinata came toward Sakura.

"S…Sakura. I am glad you are feeling better," Hinata said as she expressed relief for her friend's health.

"Thank you Hinata. How have you and Kiba been? I haven't seen either of you around much lately," Sakura asked.

"We have been well. Wedding preparations have kept me busy and my father has even seemed excited about all we are doing. I still can't believe that we'll be married in less than a couple of weeks. I hope that you will be able to join us?"

"Hinata, I wouldn't miss it. Even if I have to show up in a mask," Sakura laughed. She would have to get wedding ideas from Hinata later.

The beat of the music started to get faster as the latest dance tune started playing and everyone move toward the floor. Sakura was just content to sit at their table during the faster songs watching her friends dance. Everything seemed as it should while she sat there. Naruto had been reluctant to leave her side, but she encouraged him to go out and have some fun. She didn't want to admit it to even him that she enjoyed watching him dance. Who would have ever thought that he would have turned out the way he did back when they first became Genin. He had been so loud and awkward when they had first met. Now she thought he was downright sexy as his muscles rippled under the black turtleneck he wore when they went to the club. Sakura let out a sigh. It wouldn't be long before everyone would know that he was her sexy. The song changed into one with a slower beat and Naruto came back to where she was sitting.

"May I have this dance?" he said holding his hand out towards her, blue eyes twinkling in the lights of the club.

"I thought you would never ask," she replied taking his hand in hers.

He led her to the dance floor and put his arms around her. There was no longer any space between them and they no longer worried about whether or not anyone noticed how they looked at each other. Sakura put her arms around his shoulders. Her high heel shoes were just high enough that she could almost look him in the eye. They didn't care if the Hokage himself walked in and saw them. Sakura was lost in those sapphire blue eyes of his and he in turn was lost in her jade green eyes. They swayed to the beat of the music never leaving each other's gaze. It felt just so right to be standing there in each other's arms; as if they were the only two people out there on the dance floor and the lyrics of the love song being played echoed the feelings that were in their hearts.

They were too lost in each other's eyes to notice some of the looks their friends were giving them. Ino just smiled having already recovered from her earlier shock. Lee's jaw dropped and Tenten had to nudge him with her elbow so that he would close it. Kiba and Hinata both had looks of disbelief. It wasn't long before they too were lost in each other's eyes; too busy to notice anyone else either. Neji just had a single eyebrow raised as he watched Naruto and Sakura dance, but raised the second when Tenten, apparently caught up in the atmosphere, drug him onto the dance floor. Sakura and Naruto just laughed when they noticed how everyone had paired up on the dance floor. They felt freedom in this small moment, freedom to let the world see a glimpse of what they truly were to each other.

* * *

The crescent moon hung high overhead as the members of the Nara household looked as if they were hosting a small gathering. Two men sat playing shougi on the veranda as the others were lost in conversation. Shikamaru had been teaching Sai the finer points of the game and was now regretting teaching him how to play because the art jutsu user challenged him to a game every chance he got. Sai wasn't a good player, just obsessive. Nara Shikaku was leaning against a post, not far from the shogi players, apparently deep in conversation with Kakashi, Akamichi Choza, and Yamanaka Inoichi over a side project Inoichi had been working on with Ibiki. Neither Shikamaru nor Sai seemed to be paying anyone else much attention until Naruto entered the yard, accompanied by Kiba.

"Look who I found nursing a hangover from last night," Naruto announced as he motioned with a thumb over his shoulder to a very tired and slightly sick looking Inuzuka.

"Laugh it up, Naruto. It's not fare that you don't get drunk and I have you to thank for this splitting headache of mine," grumbled Kiba.

"Where's Akamaru?" Shikamaru asked never looking up from the shougi board. Sai may not be good, but that didn't mean he wanted to lose to him either.

"Keeping watch. It was either leave him on guard duty or let him hang out with Hinata, but even he knew to steer clear of the bachelorette party," Kiba replied, rubbing a temple in hopes of ridding himself of his headache.

"After last night, I don't think they will be able to outdo our little bachelor party," Naruto smirked recalling the night before that involved Kiba and a _lot_ of alcohol.

Kiba just laughed nervously trying not to think of what the girls were up to tonight that would more than likely involve a lot of blushing from his future wife at his expense.

Sai studied the shougi board as Shikamaru made his move, only to realize too late that the game was over.

"Checkmate," said Shikamaru.

"I should have seen that one coming. How about a rematch?"

"No."

"How about you, Naruto? Want to play?" asked a rather hopeful ANBU captain.

"Man, are you kidding me? My idea of strategy is make it up as I go. I'm _terrible_ at that sort of thing," he said as he sat down on the edge of the veranda, letting his legs hang off the edge.

"That is why you wanted my help, right?" Shikamaru said as he took out Asuma's lighter and started to flick it on and off. He had started to make this a habit when he needed something to do with his hands as he spoke. "So how is the research coming?"

"Slow. It's hard to get in the Hokage's personal library when the man doesn't like me. Fortunately for me, I have my ways of getting in there," he said with a mischievous grin.

"Yeah, like dating the one on guard duty," Kiba offered.

It was no secret between the Jounin where Sakura had been stationed for the past week, seeing how there was only one ANBU with pink hair that guarded the library at the Hokage mansion. At this point, Kakashi walked over to the group of young men when he heard them talking about plans.

"So you two are finally official?" Shikamaru said with a raised eyebrow.

"It only depends on how you want to look at it. As far as public knowledge goes, we are just a one-night stand kind of thing. I'll fill you guys in later," Naruto said with a sly grin. "As far as the research goes, I can only pick out so much from the Yondaime's notes. I never expected to spend so much time going through scroll after scroll just to find a kinjutsu or two in there. What about you, Kakashi-sensei, did you get any new leads on Sasuke?"

"Nothing new. After all that rain we had right after your confrontation, there was barely enough of a scent to track them. It looks like they headed back toward Wave country, but the Hokage seems to be satisfied just knowing that they aren't in the vicinity any longer. I just have a bad feeling that something is off with the Hokage's whole reaction regarding Sasuke and Taka. Wherever Sasuke is, I have a feeling it won't be long before we see him again. He never did like to leave things unfinished," the older Jounin replied.

"At least between you, Naruto, and Sai, I have enough information to start working on a plan. Are you sure you want to do this Naruto? It could get really ugly if this doesn't work the way you think it will," Shikamaru asked his gutsy friend.

"What choice do we really have? I'm the only one who can stand up to him whether or not Itachi's little gift does what I think it will," Naruto replied with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

"Yeah, but this time we won't let you fight him alone," Kiba said clapping his friend on the shoulder.

"That goes for you too, buddy. We don't need you getting distracted by Hinata in the middle of the fight," Naruto teased not being able to resist the opening Kiba left for him.

Kiba threw a punch at the still laughing Naruto who quickly ducked. "Man, you are just too easy to mess with," Naruto said doubled over in laughter at the annoyed Inuzuka.

Shikamaru had to shake his head at Kiba and Naruto's childish antics. "Well, unless Kiba decides to kill you after that last comment, we'll just go ahead as planned. Just let me know if you find anything before we have to put this plan into action. Are you sure that using Sasuke as bait will be a good idea?" he asked.

"I don't think anyone realizes how often I go on patrol in sage mode. I'm pretty sure he will take the bait if given the chance," Naruto said returning to more serious demeanor.

The small group of conspirators talked about plans well into the night before Sakura and Temari walked into the yard, signaling to the guys that the bachelorette party was over. Sakura had a hard time keeping a straight face when looking at Kiba, but refused to let him in on the inside joke, leaving them all to wonder what the girls had been up to for the last few hours. Temari, who apparently was feeling better lately, walked past Shikamaru and gave him a wink before heading off to bed. She also gave Kiba a pat on the head as she walked past, making him even more nervous about what Hinata had told the girls at the party. Naruto bid his friends goodnight and left with an arm thrown casually over Sakura's shoulder, leaving the ones with over active imaginations to wonder what those two would be up to later.

* * *

Karin woke up to a familiar spike in chakra coming from outside their camp hidden deep within an ancient forest that was part of the Fire country. She looked down toward where Sasuke's bedroll was and noticed that it was indeed empty. The moon was only a sliver since it had was just past the new moon phase, almost a month since their last trip to Konoha. The red head rolled out of bed and slowly crept to where she could feel his chakra. She couldn't sense any other chakra sources in the area, but she kept low in the brush just in case there was an unseen reason for the changes in chakra she was reading in her teammate. She found the Uchiha on the edge of a lake in the pale moon light, sword drawn, going through his kenjutsu ritual. That is why she noticed his chakra shifting, as if fighting an unseen opponent. She wanted to reach out to her teammate, but he seemed more and more distant from her lately. Not that they had ever really been more than just teammates, much to her dismay, but he was pulling further into himself and she was at a loss as to what to do.

Karin stood up, confident that it was just the two of them in the clearing by the lake and approached her teammate. It was a mistake as he suddenly disappeared and reappeared right behind her with his blinding speed, katana drawn at her throat.

"What are you doing, Karin? You know I don't like an audience while I'm training," Sasuke said in a low hiss.

"Sasuke-kun, I just…please, let me help you," she whispered, fear audible in her words as she spoke.

"Go away, Karin. You will have plenty to take care of once we reach Konoha. We will be leaving early tomorrow, be ready."

"Hai, Sasuke-kun," she said sounding defeated.

He lowered his katana and she walked back toward their camp.

'Why are you doing this Sasuke? It just doesn't make sense anymore,' she wondered to herself. She shook these thoughts from her head and headed back to her place by the fire hoping to get a few more hours of sleep. She knew full well that Sasuke only got a couple of hours of sleep at night and the effects showed.

End Chapter 9


	10. Early Morning Battle

Love all the reviews, favorites and alerts. Thanks as always to my faithful reviewers: Gravenimage, wind797, celious2, xNNIJABLADE45x, and Icekrem91. We've hit 50+ reviews ;D

I can't believe October is already over. Crazy, crazy month. Sorry for the delay, but Naruto and Sakura aren't the only ones with weddings going on. Thank goodness it wasn't mine.

If you're up to date on the Manga, seriously, some of Sakura's dialog sounded like my other story _Sweet Emotion_. Different ending, but we'll see...

usuratonkachi=closest translation is clumsy idiot

bibiri-cun=scardy cat

**All Naruto characters belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto****. The story is only about what could be if Sakura doesn't do something really stupid in the Manga.**

ANBU Gaiden

Chapter 10

"Psht! Sakura-san. Sakura-san, wake-up," she heard a voice say from the end of her bed. Sakura had her head buried deeply into her pillow and groaned in response to the voice coming from the end of her bed. The pinkette didn't want to wake up this early after having only slept five hours after her shift last night, but she slowly forced her eyes to open. Resting upon her elbows, she looked through bleary eyes to find a small orange toad sitting between her feet. "Hi there," he croaked.

"Yaha!" she cried as she jumped into a sitting position practically launching the small toad onto the floor along with her blankets.

"Ohayo to you too," he croaked as he moved a safe distance away from her feet. "It's me, Gamakitchi. Naruto-kun asked me to wake you up. I can see why he likes you," Naruto's summoned toad said as he noticed Sakura in the tank top and pajama pants that she had been sleeping in.

Ignoring the little toad checking her out, she sat wide-eyed looking down at the small amphibian on her bed. "Wait, Gamakitchi? I thought you were a lot bigger," she asked, now completely alert after being startled awake.

"It's a jutsu to make me small for just such an occasion. Naruto needs you to meet him at the West gate as soon as possible. He wants me to tell you that Sasuke is coming and that he needs you to call everyone together," Gamakitchi said before relaying the rest of Naruto's instructions.

"Understood," Sakura answered, before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Biting her thumb, she went through a series of hands signs before setting her right hand on her bed.

"Kutchiyose no Jutsu!" she cried as a cat sized slug appeared through the smoke.

"Katsuyu, I need you to go to everyone and let them know to meet us at the West gate. Also, inform Tsunade-sama and Kakashi what's going on," she said before filling in the little slug with the information that Gamakitchi had given to her.

"Understood," the little slug said as she split herself up into 12 smaller slugs and they disappeared in puffs of smoke.

Grabbing her ANBU gear, Sakura got dressed as quickly as she could. A small hole was still visible in the back of her uniform, but there was no time now to think about that small detail. Sasuke was coming and with any luck, she would be able to pay back that redhead of his for the cheap shot that had landed her in the hospital almost a month ago. Sakura grabbed her boots and ran to the patio. The sun was just starting to come up over the horizon; dotting the clouds with hues of orange and red light. The West gate was still in the shadows as Sakura leapt over the rooftops with the grace of a cat; braiding her hair as she went.

Reaching the gate, she found Naruto, in full ANBU gear standing next to a masked Sai and Shikamaru in his Jounin attire. The blonde ANBU looked toward her and she could just barely catch a hint of yellow in the eyeholes of his mask. She slowed to a walk as she approached her teammate and fiancé.

"How long before he reaches the village?" she asked as soon as she stood next to him.

His muscles were tense in his shoulders and she watched his tattoo ripple as his muscles moved beneath it. His hands were in tight fists at his sides to keep them from trembling from the mixture of emotions he felt. He never even looked down at her as he gazed in the direction from which he felt the chakra approaching.

"We have about 15 minutes before he reaches the village. As soon as everyone is here, we meet him halfway. We'll make sure to get a safe distance from the detection barrier so that we won't risk someone setting it off and alerting the Hokage or the rest of the village as to what is going on. Shikamaru, is everyone aware of what to do?" he said addressing his friend.

"We are ready to go," the shadow master replied.

"Sakura, are you feeling up to this?" he said at last looking down at her, reaching out to cup her cheek with a hand slightly shaking from anticipation. He brushed her cheek with his thumb as he looked at her through his mask.

"Shannaro," she said smiling up at him. She pulled his hand away from her face, giving it a small, reassuring squeeze before putting her own mask on.

It was only moments before everyone else made an appearance; The Inuzukas with Akamaru, Choji, Ino, Shino, Lee, Neji, and Tenten.

"Man, you sure know how to ruin a honeymoon," mumbled a sleepy Kiba. Hinata couldn't hide a blush at what her husband's grumblings implied.

"You can thank Sasuke for that later," Sakura replied trying not to laugh at Hinata's apparent embarrassment.

"All right, let's move out," Naruto said giving the order and they all disappeared into the trees toward the oncoming threat.

* * *

Team Taka was leaping from tree to tree in the early morning light toward the village of Konoha. Sasuke had a scowl on his face as he glared at the Hokage monument just barely visible on the horizon. He was followed by a somber Karin and a loyal Jugo. He was planning on taking the village by surprise and he intended to take out the Hokage and the elders first, taking out any opposition on his was. He could sense someone coming and made a sudden stop raising a hand to signal to the others to pull up. In the trees before them, they could see three ANBU standing in plain sight.

"So, you knew I was coming. It seems you've gotten better at sensing chakra than I expected," he said with a smirk directed at the blonde ANBU in front of him.

"This is as far as you go, Sasuke!" he warned.

"Get out of my way, usuratonkachi!"

"Why? Are you afraid to fight me, bibiri-kun?" he taunted. He could see that his taunt had hit its mark as Sasuke's sharingan activated and a snarl formed on his lips.

Sasuke could see there was something about his former friend's chakra that was different, somehow, but he had no idea what it meant. Within seconds, he formed a chidori sword and charged toward the three ANBU at a furious pace. The two other ANBU scattered, but it did not matter because he was aiming at the tall blonde in the center. Naruto dodged it with ease and was behind him before Sasuke could even tell what was happening.

"You're letting your anger get the best of you," he taunted as he landed a knee to the Uchiha's ribs before disappearing from sight once again.

Sasuke spun around not knowing how this idiot was able to keep ahead of the sharingan. Apparently being in ANBU had taught his former teammate a thing or two. He looked up not a moment too soon as he could see Naruto coming directly at him from above. "Shadow clones?!" he seethed as he turned the chidori sword into a full body chidori. The figure above him blazed through a series of hand signs before letting out a strong gust of wind that dissipated the chidori; leaving a furious Sasuke to shield his eyes, losing sight of his opponent. Naruto's heal came down on the back of his head and leveled him to the ground before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"You'll have to thank Temari for teaching me that one," Naruto taunted again, this time from somewhere out of sight. He was being played and Sasuke wasn't about to let this dobe play with him like a cat with a mouse before it eats.

Sasuke took a moment to collect himself and scanned the area for any sign of chakra. He could see Karin take on the female ANBU to his left and Jugo had engaged the male to his right. Karin was barely keeping up with the woman he assumed was Sakura, judging by the hair color, but he was not about to get in between that cat-fight. Karin had brought it upon herself and he didn't have the urge to protect her when he had problems of his own.

* * *

'Over here, teme,' Naruto mentally hissed as he waited in the trees for Sasuke to find him. If this plan was going to work, he needed to separate Sasuke from the others. He flared his chakra just enough that he knew Sasuke would see it. He could see him through the branches that concealed him and he knew Sasuke had seen his signal as the man turned toward the direction he was hiding in. 'Good. Time for phase two.'

Naruto sprinted off in a direction somewhat away from the village to his appointed destination. Sasuke followed. To Naruto, the Uchiha almost seemed frantic though to anyone else his exterior had retained its cool composure.

Naruto found the clearing that he was looking for and spun around to a grinding halt. He could see the sun gaining altitude to his left as the Uchiha entered the clearing and faced him.

"I'm surprised you'd leave Sakura with Karin after last time," Sasuke said glaring at the man before him.

"She's a big girl. She can take care of herself. I trust her which is more than I can say for you," he said coolly.

Naruto pulled out his ninjato, which he had specially made with a chakra blade, and charged it with wind chakra. Sasuke responded and pulled out his katana. They charged at each other and the sound of their blades clashing echoed through the forest. They exchanged blow after blow until Naruto's wind enhanced blade cut through Sasuke's katana.

"Ah, did I do that?" Naruto taunted as Sasuke inspected his broken weapon.

Frustrated Sasuke glared at his former friend. "I'm done playing games with you. Bringing me out here away from everyone is a big mistake," he said as he activated the mangekyo sharingan instantly catching Naruto's gaze. "Now you're mine."

* * *

Small craters littered the battlefield as Sakura chased down the redhead before her. Karin couldn't see the sneer on her face as she coiled her arm back and prepared for another chakra filled punch aimed in her direction. "Those tricks won't work on me twice," Sakura said referring to the kunai in Karin's hand. She could see the tip of it discolored with poison.

"You managed to survive the first time, but that doesn't mean I couldn't do it again. No one kisses my Sasuke and lives," she seethed.

"Who said I even wanted to kiss that looser. He obviously feels nothing for you if he has no problem kissing other girls in your presence," Sakura retorted. "Don't think that I haven't come prepared."

Sakura charged at the woman again only to disappear from her sight in a blur. Karin could feel her chakra flicker and then disappear.

"What the…?" she said before lurching forward from a blow to her back.

"Don't ever underestimate one of Konoha's elite ANBU," she heard a voice say before she felt another blow to her jaw.

Karin was completely stunned as she tried to figure out where Sakura would strike next. "Chameleon jutsu? But how…?"

"How do I hide from your unique talents? Don't think I'm going to let you in on my little secret," Sakura said before going in for the final blow. Karin could feel the full impact in her abdomen before flying backwards and hitting her head on the ground behind her. "This one is for stabbing me in the back. SHANNARO!" she cried before bringing a knee down on her opponent causing her to pass out from the pain.

* * *

"Tsukiyomi," Naruto said, unmasked, as he faced Sasuke in a black and red world within the mind. "I see you are finally getting serious."

"I'm always serious," retorted the Uchiha.

"Good. I didn't want to do this if you were anything less than serious. The last time I was in one of these was against your brother. I must say his illusions were better than yours."

"Don't toy with me, Naruto," Sasuke warned as Naruto suddenly found himself held down by three large nails.

Naruto acted surprised for a split second before he appeared to be getting sick. Sasuke was perplexed as his former friend was suddenly coughing up what appeared like a large black crow. The crow split into a couple dozen smaller crows that began to circle Sasuke.

"How did you…?" Sasuke began as the crows started to combine and turn into a figure before him. "What's going on, dobe?"

"So we have finally come to this…" the figure began as it solidified into the shape of a man wearing a black cloak with red clouds.

"Itachi?!" Sasuke said taken aback.

"Hello little brother," the figure said as it was now the very image of his brother as he was right before their final battle.

"Itachi left me a present right before the two of you fought five years ago. I never really had an idea of what he did to me until I read over some of my father's old notes. He knew you wouldn't listen to him then so he borrowed me hoping that by the time we faced off you would be a little more receptive to what he had to say," Naruto said as he managed to step out of the nails that should have been holding him.

* * *

"Tenten, Ino, Lee, go check on Sakura and make sure she's OK. Kiba, you, Akamaru and Hinata help Sai. Choji go with them. Neji, Shino, follow me. Naruto should be in the clearing with Sasuke right about now. Let's go," Shikamaru said as his friends disappeared into the trees around him. He nodded to Neji and Shino and they took off to the appointed meeting place.

They found Naruto and Sasuke face to face, but no one moved a muscle.

"He's already started," Shikamaru said under his breath as he knelt down on the edge of the clearing. "Shino, mark Sasuke with one of your kikkaichu just in case. Neji, prepare to step in if Naruto is unable to break the genjutsu as planned. He's got three minutes maximum in there," he said. Neji ran around the edge of the clearing to stand just behind Naruto's position. Shikamaru made the hand sign of his signature move and his shadow started to elongate toward Sasuke. He nodded to both Shino and Neji as soon as he had Sasuke locked without his knowledge, as he was deep within his own illusion. Now they just had to wait for the right moment.

* * *

"Naruto, how did you...?" Sasuke looked surprised, as Naruto was now standing before him unaffected by the tsukiyomi.

"Sage mode," he said motioning to his eyes, "and a little help here from your brother's chakra. I don't know how it works really and there was no way to find out until actually being here. Now are you ready to talk or do we have to take this to a battle to the death again?"

"How can you be so eager to talk after all we've been through? Even after Karin stabbed Sakura?"

"I've been doing a lot of thinking and Sakura and I came to an understanding recently. There is no way you would be going this far if you weren't seriously messed up in the head. What kind of lies did Madara feed you anyway?"

"Does it really matter? I've come to take care of Danzo once and for all and I'm taking you with him," Sasuke replied never straying from the only reason he gave himself for existence these days.

"Sasuke, Madara never told you the whole truth. True, the elders were involved in sending me to kill our family, but did you have any idea what I was going through at the time?" Itachi said calmly looking at his little brother.

"Who cares! You were obviously messed up considering what you did to our family," Sasuke shot back angrily.

"Danzo was indeed behind it all. He was the commander of ANBU when I was a member and he managed to take the knowledge I had of the Uchiha family and use it for his own purpose. He knew of my relationship with Shisui and took advantage of me. I never killed my best friend that night, but his death was what awoke the mangekyo. It was only later that I realized that Danzo wanted Shisui for his own purposes. Orochimaru told me himself that he implanted the sharingan into Danzo from Shisui as well as his right arm. Sasuke, Shisui's powers were able to control what other people thought. Danzo implanted the memory of me killing Shisui and had me wrapped in his twisted will. I met Madara in the forest about that same time and between the two of them, I did become a seriously messed up teenager. It wasn't until much later that I was able to realize what had really happened. Unfortunately that was about the same time Madara started to poison me and I never got the chance to tell you the truth."

Sasuke was shaking with rage at this point. "How can I trust anything that you say?! My entire life has been based on lies, why should I believe anything _you_ say?!"

"Because he's right," Naruto calmly interjected.

"What do you know, dobe?!" Sasuke said obviously beginning to lose his cool. Naruto hadn't seen him this shaken since the Valley of the End.

"Tsunade has suspected for years that Danzo has been up to something. Even now there are those of us who are planning on standing up to Danzo, but it won't due to have you waltzing in there and messing up everything we've worked for," Naruto started to walk toward his friend before continuing. "Sasuke, there was never a day that went by that I didn't wonder where you were or what you were doing. I never gave up hoping that you would come home to us. Even after Danzo became Hokage, I never gave up hope even if it was no longer safe for you to return. Sasuke, believe me. I have only ever wanted to be your friend."

Naruto suddenly found himself up on a cross staring down at his obviously shaken friend; eyes blazing as he seemed hell bent on taking his rage out on _someone_.

"Sasuke, that's enough!" Itachi said as he caught Sasuke's gaze. Itachi locked him in his own tsukiyomi and images of Itachi's memories of his life before Akatsuki flashed before him. He saw everything Itachi had showed him before, but there were so many more memories; his parents, Sasuke as a small boy, memories of Shisui's death, secret meetings with the Uchiha clan, ANBU training and conditioning, Madara, the entire truth.

Sasuke broke down and let out years of hate, self-torture, and frustration.

* * *

"Now!" Shikamaru said signaling to Neji as he held Sasuke frozen with his shadow when the Uchiha suddenly seemed to come out of the jutsu. Neji jumped forward and pulsed chakra into Naruto's system and caught him before he slumped forward. Shino's kikkaichu surrounded Sasuke and he was hidden from view by a swarm of small beetles. They drained him of the last of his available chakra just in case Sasuke tried anything. "Uchiha Sasuke, consider yourself under arrest for abandoning your village eight years ago among other troublesome things," Shikamaru said to the figure before him.

* * *

Sakura had already tied up Karin nice and tight before helping Tenten lift her onto a stretcher to be taken back to the village. Karin was still unconscious but they were not going to take any chances with her especially after what happened last time. They could see a double spiral heading off in the distance toward a partially transformed Jugo who was struggling to free himself from a trio of inky black snakes.

"Baika no Justu!" Choji yelled as he used his family jutsu to become a giant of a man as he caught Jugo when he flew towards him from the impact of the twin tornados. Choji wrapped both hands around him and held him tight. Ino stepped forward and preformed her mind technique before slumping into Hinata's arms. Jugo went limp right before they saw Ino recover from her jutsu. It was all over. Tenten walked to where Choji was holding onto the unconscious Jugo and proceeded to restrain the man before they carried him to a stretcher reserved just for him.

Sakura looked up to see Neji, Shikamaru and Shino coming toward them through the trees. Neji and Shikamaru were supporting Naruto between them and a restrained and blindfolded Uchiha followed Shino.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried as she ran toward them. Neji and Shikamaru stopped so that she could inspect the man between them. "Is he OK?" she asked. Shikamaru shrugged as she ripped her glove from her hand. It began to glow green from her healing chakra and she ran it over his masked forehead. Sakura brought it down, disappointed that she was unable to wake him from the effects of Sasuke's jutsu. She had felt perfectly fit enough to fight, but her body wasn't recovered enough to perform the precise chakra control needed to counter the effects of a tsukiyomi.

"We'll need to get him to Tsunade-sama. I think he'll be fine but we still don't know what happened while he was in the tsukiyomi and Sasuke's not talking," Shikamaru said motioning to the Uchiha. "They were in the jutsu at least a minute after we arrived. I'm not sure exactly what the equivalent is, but if three seconds is equal to72 hours in the tsukiyomi…, I sure hope they got some things worked out in there."

The sun was now climbing high into the sky as everyone moved toward the West gate, arrestees in tow. Sakura remained next to Karin and Sai stayed with Jugo as they entered the village. There were whispers as they walked toward the hospital. No one had expected to wake up that morning and see the last of the Uchiha and his gang under arrest by members of ANBU _and_ they were surprised to see a rather tall blonde ANBU member being carried between two young men on their way to the hospital.

* * *

Tsunade was waiting for them at the hospital. She walked up to Naruto who was still propped up between Neji and Shikamaru. Placing two fingers on his forehead, they began to glow green as she released the effect of Sasuke's jutsu. He blinked open his eyes and smiled up at her from behind his mask.

"We did it Baachan," he said as he tried to stand on his own two feet, still a little week from being locked in a tsukiyomi that long. "We brought him back and I didn't even have to break his legs."

He stood up to his full height still holding onto his friends as he shook his head a little. They related their battle to the former Hokage as she stood there taking in all the information.

"Well," she began, "You'd better take him to the Hokage. I'm sure he'll want to question him before taking him to the holding cells," she said with a wink that only the three men in front of her saw.

"Hai, Tsunade-baachan," Naruto replied. He nodded to Sakura and Sai who released their charges into the care of four other members of ANBU who escorted them to the more secure part of the hospital where prisoners of war were treated. Naruto took charge of Sasuke from Shino, letting the man know he would be fine without any help before the three ANBU members lead the Uchiha toward the Hokage's office for an early morning surprise.

End Chapter 10


	11. Changes

To all my favorite reviewers, that would be _all_ who reviewed, thank you. We made went from 50+ reviews to 60+ reviews in one chapter. Thanks ;D

Japanese word of the day: omae-'you' used very derogatorily (I was recently reminded that Sasuke uses this _a lot_). Still in mid-debate over the spelling of Kikkaichu (one k or two?) PM me if you know the answer.

**Naruto and Co. owned by Masashi Kishimoto, Danzo lasting this long was all my idea.**

ANBU Gaiden

Chapter 11

Naruto led Sasuke up the steps to the Hokage's office followed by Sakura and Sai. The three ANBU looked impressive even with smudges of battle evident over their uniforms. Having had most of his chakra drained, Sasuke stumbled as one close to the edge of exhaustion as he followed his former teammate. The Uchiha looked undignified as he tripped clumsily up the stairs, but Naruto was patient enough to wait for the man to gain his footing before continuing the long climb. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, he had resumed Sage Mode so that he could monitor his fellow ninja within the building. He could sense everyone within the vicinity and noted the very chakra signatures he was hoping to find.

"They're here. Get ready," he told his comrades. "Sasuke, watch for the man next to Danzo and be ready for him. Feel free to ask the Hokage what you want to know and I'll take care of the rest."

Sasuke remained silent but an uncertain step let Naruto know that he was indeed paying attention and the comment had caught him a little off guard. 'Good, this should be interesting to watch,' Naruto thought to himself. He relaxed out of Sage Mode having all the information he needed to know before their meeting with the Hokage.

They reached the Hokage's office and Naruto nodded to the two guards that were ever present at the doors to his office. He was glad to see who was on duty today and knew that everything was going as planed. The guard with a tiger mask painted with green stripes, with red stripes around the eyes, opened the doors and allowed the four to enter the office. Danzo was sitting at the large desk and actually seemed a little surprised to see the spectacle before him, but years of emotional training soon allowed him to remove any hint of emotion from his aging features. A hooded man was standing to the right of Danzo and stepped back towards the shadows of the room as if in an attempt to appear a part of the décor. Naruto stopped right before the Hokage's desk and proceeded to unmask Sasuke. Sasuke blinked and squinted trying to allow his eyes to readjust to the light, before glaring down at the man behind the desk.

"So, I see you three have had a busy morning. Hello Uchiha Sasuke," the Hokage calmly greeted the prisoner.

Sasuke tried to activate his sharingan, but found that Shino's kikkaichu had drained his chakra to the point where it was impossible now. Frustrated he continued to glare at the figures before him. He was having a hard enough time focusing his gaze as the tsukiyomi's effects were now making themselves apparent. Naruto stepped up and placed a hand on his bound arm and Sasuke attempted to pull away only to find that he couldn't. He let out a low growl, but Naruto acted as if he hadn't heard it.

"Hokage-sama, we found Uchiha Sasuke and two members of Taka approaching the village just before sunrise. We managed to prevent them from coming into the village under their own power. The two other members are being detained in the hospital as we speak," the tall blonde ANBU said matter-of-factly.

Sasuke could feel chakra coming from his former best friends hand into his own system and the sensation caught him off guard. 'What is this baka thinking?' Sasuke thought to himself as he glanced at the man next to him out of the corner of his eye. He looked at either side of him as Sakura and Sai seemed not to notice anything but the Hokage before them.

"Very good. Place him in one of the holding cells in the basement and I will send for Ibiki. If that is all then you are dismissed," the Hokage replied with a wave of his visible hand.

"Wait," hissed Sasuke, "I have a question for you, omae!" Sasuke could feel his strength returning as Naruto fed him chakra and he was beginning to feel bold with the surge of power.

"Watch your mouth, brat," Danzo said rather calmly. "That is no way to address your elders and betters."

"I want to know why you ordered my family to be eliminated. I want to know the truth," Sasuke seethed.

"It was necessary for the safety of Konoha. You don't know anything so don't assume you have any idea what it means to protect the village as I have done my _entire_ career," the Hokage stated proudly.

At this point, Sasuke felt strong enough to activate his sharingan. His eyes burned red as he scanned the men before him. Naruto cut off his flow of chakra to Sasuke at this point. Sasuke looked over at the blonde ANBU next to him for some sort of sign as to what he was up to and noticed that his chakra had no sign of that unfamiliar energy flowing through his system. He looked around and was surprised to notice that not only did he see two chakras within the Hokage, but two chakras within the hooded man next to him and they both looked surprisingly familiar.

"Kabuto!?" Sasuke hissed, glaring at the hooded figure before him.

"It is a pleasure to see you doing so well Sasuke-kun. Although we have a feeling you are not as pleased to see us," the figure said as he removed his hood revealing a two faced Kabuto. Half of his face looked like it once did, but now the other half was Orochimaru's and the hair was entirely long and black. Sasuke actually felt ill at the thought of what the man had done to himself. He knew Kabuto had had some issues, but he never thought it would have gone this far. Sasuke turned back to the Hokage finding the need to get to the truth overpowering his hatred for his former master and teacher.

"You still haven't answered my question. Why my family? Why Itachi?" Sasuke asked the Hokage.

"You wouldn't understand the truth if it looked you right in the face," he replied calmly.

"I know everything that Itachi knew. Does protecting the village require acts of treason and genocide?" Sasuke replied. Damn Naruto, he had given him a lot of chakra and Sasuke was starting to get a power rush.

"What do you know? I only did what was necessary for the good of the village. Konoha would not be what it is today if it wasn't for the necessary sacrifices over the years."

"Sacrifices? What about the conspiracy with the village's enemies so that you could gain control over the Hokage and the council? What about Shisui? Did you also have control over my father and Orochimaru? Weren't they just pawns in your little game to gain the seat of Hokage?"

"You are out of line, boy," the Hokage was starting to show some signs of annoyance at the badgering he was getting from this mere child before him. "Take him away."

"Is it true, Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked calmly. Sasuke wasn't sure what to make of his former teammates new demeanor. He had never thought Naruto would grow up to be so calm and collected while he himself felt on the verge of losing control. "Were we all just tools to help you become Hokage?"

At this point Tsunade stormed into the office followed by the two ANBU that were guarding the door. She carried what seemed like a file folder in one hand and marched right up to the Hokage's desk, placing it with enough force to crack the top of the desk that stood in front of him. Kakashi stood in the doorway; leaning up against the door frame, looking as uninterested as always. He didn't miss that Sasuke was looking like he was about to come unglued even though Naruto still had a strong grip on his arm.

"What's the meaning of this Tsunade-hime?" Danzo said trying not to act as if this insubordination wasn't having an effect on him.

"Proof of everything you ever did and every cover-up you ever pulled over the past 50 plus years," Tsunade said as her amber eyes blazed at the man before her. "It was only a matter of time before you slipped up and gave us what we needed to present the Daimyo with evidence of your power plays and treachery against Konoha and the Fire Country.

The Hokage glanced at the files before him recognizing several accounts from his own past written accurately on the pages.

"How did you get this?" he said as the crack in his cool exterior was starting to show.

"Let's just say we used a little persuasion thanks to Ibiki and Inoichi and some of your more loyal members of Root to obtain this information. All we needed was this gaki to fill in the last piece of the puzzle. Kabuto-Orochimaru is a wanted man in every nation and for you to be in the same room with him is enough to seal your fate."

Danzo moved to make a series of hand signs before he found himself with a kunai beneath his chin. The blonde ANBU that was once in front of him was now behind him restraining him from making any more seals.

Sasuke found that when Naruto had disappeared from his side, his hands were also free from their restraints. He took advantage of this to take out some of his frustration and anger on the two faced man before him. In one blow, he had the pseudo serpent on the ground and his mangekyo sharingan activated. Within seconds, Kabuto lay unconscious on the ground and the snake part of his form was slowly starting to fade.

"I hate having to do things more than once," Sasuke stated.

No one attempted to stop Sasuke as he walked up to Danzo and removed the bandages from his eye; revealing the sharingan beneath. "I believe this belongs to the Uchiha family," he said calmly as he removed Danzo's stolen eye. The man let out a scream of pain and shock at the turn of events that now left him at the mercy of one of his own ANBU and the criminal before him. As soon as the eye was removed, the room began to appear out of focus even more than before for the Uchiha. Sasuke shook his head trying to get his eyes to regain their focus as the effects of using the tsukiyomi blurred his vision. Sakura came forward and put her hand on his arm as if to say it was over.

"Take him away. Ibiki should be waiting for him," Tsunade said. It felt good to be giving the orders again.

Naruto turned the former Hokage, humiliated and bloodied, over to the two ANBU that had once guarded the door to the office. He walked over to his fiancé and former teammate and together they walked out of the room toward the hospital. Sasuke was finally home.

* * *

The next day, Sasuke sat in a hospital bed as Sakura, now in her everyday cloths, was focusing healing chakra into his right eye. They sat in silence as she worked. Sasuke's avoided any eye contact with the med-nin as much as she would allow while she worked to heal the blindness caused by his jutsu.

"Sakura, can I ask you something?" the normally stoic man asked, breaking their long silence.

"What is it?" she said as she continued her healing. The pink haired medic spoke without making eye contact as she focused solely on her work.

"Why me?"

"What are you getting at Sasuke?" the pinkette asked.

"Why did he go so far just for me?"

"Sasuke, if you have to ask that you don't understand him at all. That is something you'll have to ask Naruto, but I think you already know the answer to that. Here, turn your head toward the window so that I can get your other eye."

"Do you hate me for kissing you? For leaving you on that bench all those years ago?" he said in a low voice almost to the point where she couldn't hear his question.

"Sasuke, you have given me more reasons to hate you than anyone else. That kiss was just a drop in the bucket. As for the night you left, I wouldn't be here healing your eyes if you hadn't given me a reason to become stronger. I also don't think I would have come to appreciate those around me as much as I do."

_Knock, Knock_

"Come in," Sakura called to the visitor.

"Are you busy?" a blonde head asked as he peered into the room.

"Almost done," she replied with a tender smile, as she remained focused on her task.

"How are you feeling, teme?" Naruto asked as he entered the room to stand at the end of Sasuke's bed.

"Tired and still a little confused, but better."

"I talked to Baachan. She said you'll be under close watch for a while, but now that Danzo is in custody it's only a matter of time before you'll be able to be a part of Konoha just like old times," Naruto stated, sounding rather proud of himself.

"Naruto, how can you be so certain that it will go that smoothly? I'm not even sure if that is what I want right now."

"Hey, I didn't say that it would go smoothly. I just know that with a little time and a lot of help from your friends you'll be able to heal just like the rest of us have over the years. Believe it," he replied with a bright smile. "Are you done yet, Sakura-chan? We need to get going if we're going to make it on time."

"There. All done. Now don't do any doujutsu for a couple of weeks, Sasuke, and you're vision should return to normal in time," She said getting up and walking toward the end of the bed where Naruto stood.

"I'll be by in a couple of days, teme. We need to make sure that you and your escort will be able to attend the ceremony," grinned Naruto.

"What ceremony?" the confused Uchiha asked.

"Oh, I guess I forgot to ask you huh. By the way, you're invited to my, er-our wedding," he corrected after getting an elbow in the ribs from Sakura.

Sasuke looked a little shocked at what that statement implied. "Wait, you're marrying him?" he asked Sakura as he pointed to the tall blonde.

"Yes, Sasuke. A lot has changed around here. Much more than I think you'll ever know," she said as she gave Naruto a loving look and took his hand in hers. Sasuke now took notice of the ring Sakura now openly wore on her left ring finger. Naruto just smiled a goofy smile and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand.

They retreated from the room leaving Sasuke in shock and disbelief. 'I guess she wasn't kidding when she said that a lot has changed around here,' he thought to himself as he leaned back onto his pillows. He laced his fingers behind his head as he looked up toward the ceiling, lost deep in thought letting the events of the last few days sink in.

* * *

It was late afternoon by the time they left the hospital and the sun was already beginning to set as it was still the middle of winter. Naruto and Sakura walked hand in hand as the sunset caused the clouds to take on shades of pink and orange. There was no need now to hide their engagement now that Danzo was no longer Hokage. Tsunade had sent a message to the Daimyo and it seemed that he had been under the influence of Danzo's jutsu when it came to certain decisions, some of which included Naruto's future.

They were going to meet at Sakura's parent's home for an impromptu engagement party consisting of Sakura's parents, Tsunade, Shizune, Iruka, Ayame, and Kakashi. Sakura opened the door of her parent's house to find that everyone, minus Kakashi, was already there. Sakura's mother was busy getting dinner ready and she left Naruto in the family room with everyone else while she went to help her mother in the kitchen. This wasn't the first time Tsunade had been a guest in her parents' home since Sakura had become her apprentice, but her mother was such a perfectionist that she still wanted to impress the older woman. They were about to sit down to dinner by the time Kakashi finally showed up, complete with a lame excuse.

Everyone enjoyed themselves at dinner and once it was over they moved into the family room where they presented Naruto and Sakura with gifts. They received traditional gifts such as katsuo-bushi (aka bonito) and konbu, but Sakura's parents also gave them a set of formal kimonos. Naruto's was a traditional dark blue on white basket weave pattern with the orange swirl crest placed in random sizes throughout, with a simple matching obi. Sakura's was a more delicate pink kimono with lighter pink cherry blossoms all along the bottom and the lower half of the long sleeves with a red obi. Shizune gave the couple a formal tea set. Iruka and Ayame gave them a set of his and hers chopsticks that had a design of foxes and cherry blossoms wrapped around the thicker end of the chopsticks; as well as a set of ornate ramen bowls. Kakashi gave them a traditional wall hanging with the words 'Heaven and Earth' in Kanji. The Hokage handed Naruto a small box that was long and narrow. Naruto looked at it with some suspicion not having any idea what this gift might be.

"Go ahead and open it, Gaki," the Hokage grinned as she sat on the arm of the couch. "This is from me and Yamato. He wanted to help present it, but he had duty tonight," she explained.

Naruto opened it and there was a necklace inside that resembled his old one; the one he broke five years ago against Pain.

"Where did you find this, Tsunade-baachan?" Naruto looked from the necklace to the Hokage with a look of surprised on his face.

"Well, it took quite a while to locate the gem as well as a craftsman who knew how to work with it. I had to call in a few favors from some people that actually owed _me_ money. Lucky for me one of them just happened to be the Daimyo. He really is a terrible card player. Anyway, it's similar to the first one I gave you, but this one does a little more than allow Yamato to control the fox's chakra. Don't ask me how he did it, but Yamato made the fiber that the gem is hanging from. It will work with your seal to suppress it without him having to be present. It just happened that it was ready in time for your wedding," Tsunade said with a proud smile.

"I don't know what to say other than thanks, Tsunade-baachan, and tell Yamato thanks for me too," he said as he put the gem around his neck.

"Not a problem, Gaki," Tsunade said as she ruffled up his messy blonde hair.

The dinner party continued well into the evening before it was time for everyone to return to their respective homes. Naruto and Sakura thanked everyone for their gifts and Naruto walked Sakura back to her apartment. The moon was high overhead as they walked down the almost empty streets of Konoha. They could see the stars twinkling and only a few clouds streaked the late night sky. The wind kicked up, for this is Konoha after all, and Sakura shivered. Naruto took off his sage coat and put it on her shoulders. She snuggled into it thankful that it still had his warmth.

"Sakura," he said taking a big breath as he took her hand in his once again. "I can't believe we're finally doing this. Since yesterday I feel like I've been living a dream."

"I know exactly how you feel. These past couple of days has gone so fast. What with the battle with Taka, getting Sasuke back, the Hokage, and planning a wedding; I feel like I'm being swept up by a whirlwind."

Naruto got a look in his eye that Sakura knew meant trouble for her. "I'll show you a whirlwind," he said as he picked her up bridal style leaping up onto and over rooftops toward her apartment.

Setting her down in front of her door, he leaned in for a kiss. He pinned her against the door before she even had a chance to get her key out. His kisses were so full of emotion that she just melted into him. Her heart felt like it was beating in her ears as he moved from her mouth to her neck. Grabbing the back of his jacket, she pulled his body towards her as she could feel his hands going up her back under the coat that she was still wearing. Sakura lost track of how many passion filled minutes they stood there like that.

They finally had to take a bit of a break when they heard someone coming up the stairs of her building. Somehow, she managed to calm herself down enough to pull out her key, allowing them to move to a more private location. They stumbled through the darkness of her apartment toward her couch, falling on top of it. Sakura was underneath his body and they continued what they had started out on the landing. They had held back for so long because of the fear that Naruto could not control the demon's chakra that their kisses seemed even more desperate. They had agreed a long time ago that they wanted to save the final step for the time when their relationship was forever binding, but tonight they intended to enjoy each other as much as they possibly could without breaking that vow.

Still feeling the effects of having recently been in a battle and in an attempt to get more comfortable, Sakura adjusted her body underneath her fiancé's; accidentally causing him to lose his balance and he rolled off the couch; taking her with him. He smacked his head pretty hard, but they ended up in a fit of laughter there in a pile on the floor.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. Are you OK?" Sakura managed to ask a little out of breath from kissing and laughing.

"Yeah, but you really need to watch that monstrous strength of yours," he teased as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I'll show you monstrous," she said getting an evil look on her face and with that she began to unzip his jacket and he watched wide-eyed as she began to run a finger down his chest. Without any warning, she moved her fingers over to his ribs and began to tickle him in one of his more vulnerable spots.

"Sakura-chan, no fair!" he whined as he couldn't stop laughing. She had him pinned underneath her and in this position, he was completely vulnerable to her attack.

Naruto managed to fight back by grabbing her knee and they ended up tickling each other while also attempting to block the other's attacks. It went on like this for several laughter-filled moments until they found themselves too out of breath to go on. They finally managed to calm down and moved back onto the couch.

"I love you, Sakura," Naruto said in all seriousness, even if out of breath.

"I love you too, Uzumaki Naruto," she said running her hand through his messy hair around his ear before it ended up cupping his cheek.

He leaned into her for a kiss and they ended up back where they had started. Finally, the physical toll their bodies had both taken the day before caught up to them and they had to slow down their pace. Their shoes and winter ware managed to end up in a pile on the floor and they were content to lay on the couch staring into each other's eyes as they talked quietly until they both fell asleep; exhausted both emotionally and physically from the events of the past week.

End Chapter 11

Next Chapter: The Ceremony


	12. ANBU Wedding

Thanks to all my faithful readers. Sorry it took so long to upload a new chapter, but 'tis the Holiday season here in the US, and that hasn't left much time for stories even though this chapter has been in my computer for a while. Enjoy.

* * *

Listen to my heart

Can you hear it sing?

Telling me to give you everything

Seasons may change

Winter to spring

But I will love you

Until the end of time-Moulin Rouge

* * *

**Naruto and Co. owned by Masashi Kishimoto.**

ANBU Gaiden

Chapter 12

Sakura stood in front of the mirror in her parent's house. Looking in the mirror, she was amazed at her own reflection. Her dress was a simple satin affair that she and Ino had picked out just a few days ago after hours of trying on dresses. Her mother had insisted that a traditional kimono would be more appropriate, but for some reason none of the wedding kimonos suited her personality. She had instead chosen a sleeveless white satin gown. It was a simple A-line style gown that came down to her ankles in the front and just barely touched the ground in back. The swooping neckline teased just enough and she knew the effect it would have on the groom would be well worth it. A Y-style necklace helped to accentuate the neckline with its delicate combination of pearls and rhinestones with the largest pearl dangling dangerously close to the neckline of the dress.

Ino was working on putting the finishing touches on her friend's pink curls that were cascading stylishly down her back. Sakura's mother had given her ornate combs engraved with cherry blossoms that once belonged to her grandmother. Ino had used the combs to pull the hair away from Sakura's face, holding the curls in place; the white ivory of the combs stood out against the blossom pink of her hair.

"Oh, Sakura," she heard her mother say as she entered the room that was once her bedroom.

Her mother came into the room, took a hold of her daughter's left hand and squeezed it affectionately. Sakura smiled back but was painfully reminded to hold still when Ino jabbed her in the back with her finger.

"Hold still, Forehead, unless you want me to have to do your hair all over again," the blonde kunoichi warned.

"Honey, I'm so proud of you. You are going to leave that young man speechless," her mother said as tears started to pool in her eyes.

"Mom, stop. You're going to get me started. It's not fitting for a member of ANBU to cry as it is," Sakura said attempting to lighten the mood with a small joke.

Her mom, however, did not laugh her daughters attempt at a joke. "Honey, today you are just a woman and Naruto will be just a man. I know we raised you to be an excellent kunoichi, but today is about forming a new bond between the two of you; not being ninja," her mother said as she adjusted some of the pink bangs that graced her daughter's porcelain face.

"Thanks Mom, for everything," Sakura said now having an even harder time not tearing up.

"I agree with your Mom, Sakura, but if you start crying so help me if I have to redo your makeup!"

They all had to laugh at the Goddess of Perfection as she continued to put the finishing touches on the bride. They could hear the sound of someone walking towards the door just before her father knocked on the door frame.

"Sakura, it's time," he called from the hallway.

Sakura took a deep breath as she glanced at herself one last time in the mirror. Her heart was beating fast and she had a million and one butterflies in her stomach. She had dreamed of this day just like any little girl and it was surreal to think that this day was finally here. Her mother gave her hand another squeeze before leaving to join her father in the hall. Ino playfully gave her a little shove toward the door as she faithfully fulfilled her version of the Maid of Honor, dressed in a dark purple dress looking very much like a shorter version of Sakura's. Sakura knew full well that her friend was going to get a reaction from at least one man in that dress; one flower shop manager and maybe a couple of ex-boyfriends.

Sakura met her parents in front of their house and they began to make their way down the street toward the Hokage monument. They had decided that it would be fitting to have it on the hill behind the carved faces, just a small ceremony with close family and friends. They soon spotted the groom and his "family" as he walked up the road to meet them. The ceremony would be the traditional Shinto ceremony, even if they had opted for the more contemporary attire and location. Naruto's eyes went wide as he saw Sakura in her wedding dress. He had a hard time not looking at her as they met silently, continuing to walk toward their destination. Naruto was forced to resist the strong urge to take Sakura's hand in his, as it was against wedding tradition. Sakura had to admit that he looked amazing in the black tuxedo that he had chosen, as it made his blonde hair stand out; gleaming like gold in the early morning light. Iruka, along with Ayame and their son, took their place next to Naruto since Iruka was the closest thing he had to a father.

Their friends made up their "small" wedding party, as they had become the family he never had. Everyone, except for Gaara, who was in his Kazekage robes, were all dressed in contemporary evening wear. The only one of the original Rookie 12 that was not present was Sasuke. Temari walked beside Shikamaru with Kankuro not far behind, much to the shadow user's chagrin. Gaara, being the Kazekage and Naruto being his closest friend, had the honor to lead their group of friends as they walked behind Naruto. The young Kazekage actually looked as if he was smiling, in his own silent way, as they walked along the road to their destination. The Senseis of the group followed behind consisting of Kakashi, Kurenai, and Guy. It was late morning on the surprisingly warm day, but being early February, it was still too early for any of the trees to leaf out. For Sakura, her excitement and a sheer white shawl made up for any chill that was in the air.

Once they reached the top of the hill, everyone took their place on either side of the bride and groom on a makeshift tatami floor that had been set up just for the occasion; situated so that they could look out over the heads carved on the mountain toward the village. Sakura's family knelt down on her right and their friends knelt on the opposite side next to Naruto. Sakura and Naruto stood in the center facing the priest momentarily before kneeling into position. Tsunade had agreed to be the "Miko" during the ceremony, but Sakura and Naruto only paid attention to each other; stealing glances throughout the ritual. Their hearts both so full of emotion that words were not enough to express how they felt toward each other. Naruto was finally getting the girl of his dreams. Sakura had a man that would always be there for her, one that saw the real girl that Naruto always knew was there deep down inside even before they were Genin.

No one seemed to notice the figure dressed in black standing beneath a nearby tree, guarded by two members of ANBU, as he witnessed the ceremony in awkward silence. His eyes shielded from the bright light by the shade of a cedar tree. The surrounding trees held several other ANBU members, half concealed in the branches just within earshot of the ceremony. They were watching their teammates and their friends become man and wife. No matter how hard Danzo had tried to keep his elite ANBU from forming bonds, he could not completely erase the human element.

Naruto and Sakura shared in the drinking of sake before the priest announced that they were now husband and wife. Without even getting up Naruto leaned over, took his hand and cupped Sakura's cheek giving her a gentle but passionate kiss, which Sakura readily returned. They broke off the kiss and looked lovingly into each other's eyes, resting their foreheads together; drunk with emotion as they smiled at each other. No more hiding, no more secrets, it was just the two of them in that moment. Together. Forever. They had to laugh when Kiba broke the silence and let out a whoop only to be shushed by his own bride of three weeks. Kiba's cry lightened the mood as the rest of their friends and family cheered the newlyweds on.

As they turned to leave for the reception, hand in hand, they looked out over an impressive sight. All the ANBU present had silently assembled on either side of the walkway in a striking display. Each ANBU silently drew their ninjato in unison; holding it above the walk to form an arch of steel. Naruto and Sakura were a little surprised by this display, and couldn't help but notice the man leading their fellow ANBU in their silent salute. As they walked through this impressive display, Sakura leaned up and kissed the lead ANBU on the masked cheek, causing him to blush furiously under his mask.

"Thank you, Sai," she whispered before turning back to Naruto who had the biggest smile on his face that she had ever seen. His smile was contagious as they made their way through the ANBU arch of steel.

At the same time, they both noticed a figure in the shade of the tree near the end of the walkway. Sasuke remained stoic as he watched from the shadows. Naruto and Sakura both smiled at their former teammate and they were both touched at the very small movement of the corners of his mouth. It was the closest thing to a smile they had ever seen him have since they were Genin. They were glad he was there, but Naruto only winked at the Uchiha as they continued down the path to the reception hall.

Sasuke watched the wedding party leave with a mixture of emotions ranging from confusion to regret. He turned to leave, followed closely by his ANBU escort. The Hokage granted him time out of house arrest long enough to attend the wedding festivities, but he wasn't ready to face the rest of Konoha and a wedding reception was not his preferred method of being reintroduced to the world he had left behind eight years ago.

* * *

The reception was held in one of the larger reception halls in town and the guest list was a who's who of Konoha's Ninja. Naruto and Sakura were caught up in a whirlwind of activity that barely left them any time to sit down and enjoy the meal that was prepared for them and their guests. It seemed that everyone was present and the Hokage had made it a point to keep the missions to a minimum so that those who wished to attend could do so.

The Kazekage, along with Kankuro, had managed to fit it into their schedule and had appeared the previous week much to the annoyance of a certain shadow user. Gaara had finally relaxed enough that everyone knew he had accepted Shikamaru being with Temari, but there was still a bit of tension between the two, as they still had not settled certain issues concerning village politics. Temari had let her brother know that she wanted to stay in Konoha, but they had still not decided if she would be a Suna or Konoha shinobi not to mention if she and Shikamaru would get married. Temari was now very visibly pregnant and Shikamaru had stunned everyone at how attentive he was being toward her. Naruto had suspected that was part of the reason Gaara was finally OK with their relationship, even if at times he could still be the overprotective little brother.

Sakura noticed that Temari wasn't the only one that was glowing as Hinata had seemed to be almost radiant over the last week. She made a mental note to ask Hinata later if she had been feeling different lately. Sakura had the sneaking suspicion that Hinata and Kiba had left for their honeymoon as two and returned as three and that their little honeymoon surprise would be due to arrive in about eight and a half months.

Sakura had to laugh at her Maid of Honor as she spent her time showing off her new engagement ring to their friends. Sakura knew that Mitsuhiro would be good for her rather passionate friend as he was a man who was very steady and sure of himself. Ino had surprised everyone with how much she seemed to settle down around the flower shop manager, but it was a pleasant surprise. Even her father, who had been reluctant of the match when his daughter started dating one of his employees, now, seemed to approve of his daughter's choice. It was also fun to see Mitsuhiro blush as she showed off her ring while he remained at her side quite content to linger near his beautiful purple clad siren.

Naruto and Sakura made their rounds through the guests to the point they were not even sure whom they had talked to that afternoon. The bride and groom were at the far side of the room opposite the head table when they heard the sound of Tsunade trying to get everyone's attention with a spoon on a water glass. It was time for the parents to give their speeches and Sakura's parents were standing next to the Hokage waiting for the Hokage to gain everyone's undivided attention. Sakura knew that this was the wedding tradition that Naruto had been uneasy about since they started planning the wedding. Since his parents were not there, Iruka had offered to say something in their stead. However, it still did not completely erase the loss Naruto felt. The Hokage gave Sakura's father the floor as soon as she was satisfied with the level of attention she had from the crowd. Sakura's father stood up and cleared his throat in preparation for his speech.

"Sakura, ever since the day you first found out that you were on a team with this young man, we have watched to two of you grow and mature into the man and woman that you are today. Not only that, but your relationship grew and changed right along with you. We have to admit that it wasn't always easy to watch our little Sakura go out on missions as a ninja of this village and sometimes it didn't make it any easier to see you on the same team as someone many of us here considered dangerous. Don't worry, Naruto, I can tell by your reaction what you're thinking, but over the years the more our daughter talked about you the more our opinion of you changed. You have sacrificed yourself countless times for our daughter and for this village and for that, we will be forever grateful. We now welcome you as a member of our family. May your love for each other weather all obstacles as you journey through life together. To Sakura and Naruto, Kanpai!"

"Kanpai," the crowd echoed as they toasted to the new couple.

Sakura and Naruto blushed as everyone raised their glasses in their honor. Sakura's dad gave them a wink before sitting down. Iruka stood up in preparation for his "fatherly" speech and the crowd grew quiet once more.

"Naruto and Sakura, I had initially planned on giving a speech about how the two of you have grown up and changed over the years, but it has been brought to my attention that someone else has a message they would like to share with you."

With that, Iruka sat down much to Naruto and Sakura's surprise. They looked at each other a little confused as the Hokage stood holding what seemed like an old scroll in her hand. She opened it and prepared to read its contents. Naruto, and everyone else for that matter, couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

"'Naruto,'" she began to read, "'if you are hearing these words I was unable to be with you today. It won't be long before you'll be born and I don't know what is going to happen years from now as I write this. However, I want you to know that no matter what has happened in your life, your mother and I have always loved you and will always love you no matter where we are. We wanted you to grow up to be the best shinobi this world has ever seen with the heart and determination to never give up on your dreams. I'm sure the girl standing next to you today is someone that we would be proud to call our daughter and we hope that the love you two share rivals the love your mother and I share. We believe in you, Son, and we know that you will become the man we always hoped you would be from the day we first learned that you were on the way. We have so many dreams for you, but what we really want for your life is that you have your own dreams and that you are able to accomplish anything that you put your mind to. Give that lovely girl by your side a kiss from your mother and me. We love you very much, Naruto.' And it is signed, 'Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage."

There were many gasps heard throughout the room as the Hokage read these words. Many people suspected over the years that the young man before them looked markedly similar to the Yondaime Hokage, but just as many never bother to connect the dots. Sakura had watched the face of her husband the whole time as he cried silent tears through the entire message. She knew he had talked to his father years ago, but this had meant more to him than any speech anyone else in the room could have given. Tsunade walked towards them and handed Naruto the scroll before giving him a hug. He returned her hug and wiped tears from his eyes as they embraced.

"Thank you, Baachan," Naruto whispered in the Hokage's ear.

"Anytime, Gaki. Anytime," she replied.

Tsunade released him only for him to turn and embrace Sakura, giving her the kiss his father had requested of him. The crowd around them cheered as they too recovered from their shock. It wasn't long before the room was buzzing with festivities that lasted well into the night.

* * *

After Naruto and Sakura thanked all their guests for attending, they quietly slipped away from the reception hall where many of their fellow ninja were still enjoying a good time. The moon was full that night and they decided to take a detour on the way home through one of the local gardens. It was near the center of town where the crater made by Pain had been the deepest. As a reminder of that day, the council had decided to turn the area into a public garden using the hollowed earth for the Koi pond. Several small islands were skillfully placed throughout the pond and were connected by a series of arching bridges reminiscent of gardens owned by the Daimyo. Thanks to the skills of Yamato, the area was full of vegetation making the garden look much older than it really was.

The moon's light glimmered in the quiet waters of the pond as Naruto led his bride along the well-worn path that ran along the water's edge. Across the lake from where they walked, a traditional-style tea house was barely visible through the trees; its white, shoji paper walls seemed to glow next to the darkly stained wood of the building and surrounding trees. He found an old and knotted tree that looked like it had been there for decades. Leaning Sakura against the rough wood of the tree, Naruto leaned in and gave her a deep and passionate kiss there in the moonlight. They broke off their kiss and they melted into each other's gaze. Lost in thought, Naruto played with her soft, pink curls along her neckline.

"What are you thinking about, Naruto?" Sakura finally asked, as he seemed to be lost deep in thought.

"I don't know. I think I'm just amazed at how lucky I am to be here with you. I'm just thinking about all that has happened in the past year that has led up to this moment. We've been through so much together and I don't think I'll ever truly appreciate your helping me through it all. All I know is that I love you, Sakura no hana." He leaned in and gave her another kiss. When they pulled apart, he said, "I also know that I'm _really_ tired," he said as he gave her a tired version of the smile he reserved for her alone.

"I love you too, Naruto," she lovingly teased him as she stroked his whisker marks; causing him to react with a purr that came from the back of his throat. "And I agree; I'm exhausted. Let's just go home. My feet are killing me and I want to take all this thick makeup off that Ino put on me this morning," she said with a laugh.

"Don't forget there are still a few more things we have left to do," he said with a mischievous grin.

"And we aren't going to get them done standing here, Baka."

Without any further prompting, he picked her up in his arms, bridal style, causing her to let out a giggle at his excitement and walked toward his/their apartment where they had moved all her stuff only a few days before. Reaching the door, he unlocked it and kicked it open before carrying her over the threshold. They kissed one last time before he put her down and shut the door behind them.

End Chapter 12


	13. The New ANBU

Short AN for Today: Thanks for all the favorites, reviews and alerts. Life gets more hectic with the holidays, but it will make for some great material when I get a chance to actually sit.

**Naruto and the Narutoverse is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The story is only about what could have been since I have not perfected my Mind Walking Jutsu enough to read Kishimoto-senseis mind ;)**

Creeping in the shadows without a sound, we are never lead astray  
A big wind rose up and blew us away  
Blown wayward, open up your future with a sharp sword!  
There isn't a place where your future isn't guaranteed, right!?

We are Fighting Dreamers aiming high  
Fighting Dreamers not caring for our appearance  
Fighting Dreamers believing in our way  
(Translation for Go!!!-Naruto Opening episodes 78-103)

* * *

ANBU Gaiden

Chapter 13: The New ANBU

"So when are Naruto and Sakura back on duty?" the new ANBU commander asked his Hokage. Other than the long white cloak that he now wore, only his mask was visible.

"I gave them a week off. They said something about wanting to visit one of the nearby hot springs that Naruto and Jiraiya visited a long time ago," Tsunade said trying not to laugh at the memory of her old teammate. 'Knowing that old pervert it probably means that it's shared bathing,' the last of the Sannin thought to herself.

There were days she actually missed the old man, but the years had helped the pain of his loss go from a sharp pain to a dull reminder of when they were younger and she had an even shorter fuse. She also thought about the two honeymooners who were just like the children she never had. After the events of the last few months, she knew that Naruto and Sakura deserved the much needed break, no matter how short it was.

"I guess I'll have to wait until they get back before I know if either of them will remain in ANBU or not. I have also made a list of all the old Root members as well as where their loyalties lie. There is no way to remove the tongue seal, so we'll have to have Inoichi use the Mind Walking Jutsu to question those that seem to be loyal to Konoha and not Danzo," said the young man.

"Very well. I'll leave it up to you and the rest of the squad commanders to come up with the best plan as far as how to deal with the reorganization. We need to make ANBU the elite squad the First Hokage meant it to be, and not the puppet squad that Danzo had turned it into," replied the Hokage as she flipped through the files of all the current and former members of ANBU. "I also want to know how many members plan on remaining part of ANBU so that we know exactly what our numbers will be after the reorganization. I _do not_ want any surprises. There is a good chance that we'll have to recruit some new members to fill any positions that open up."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," he said, bowing before disappearing in a whirl of ink.

"It sounds like he has everything under control," Kakashi commented as he looked over the list that was on Tsunade's desk regarding the new ANBU squads.

"Yes he does. It seems he has put a lot of thought into this. I wonder if part of it has to do with Naruto being the next in line for the position of Hokage? I have a feeling that he is doing this out of his friendship for Naruto and Sakura more than anything," Tsunade said as she rested her elbows on her desk, bringing her hands clasped up in front of her mouth.

"Naruto's power over people's hearts still manages to surprise me after all these years. Speaking of which, I think I'll go check up on my wayward student and see how he's settling into the halfway house. Ja na," Kakashi said, referring to Sasuke before he jumped out Tsunade's open window.

Tsunade returned to studying the files before her as her thoughts drifted over the events of the last month. It felt good to get everything settled after their little coup d'état, now she just had to hold the title until Naruto was ready to take over. She had yet to ask him what his plans were now that they were restructuring ANBU and Sakura could easily go either way since she had been missed at the hospital as well as in the field since joining ANBU. It was up to them exactly what direction the village of Konoha would take now that it was time for their generation to take over some of the key positions in the village; much like Sai had taken over ANBU.

* * *

Sakura stood at the edge of the training grounds clad only in a pair of gray training pants and an oversized black t-shirt with an orange swirl on the front, beads of sweat rolling down her face, eyes closed as she silently meditated. Her eyes suddenly snapped open just before she sprung backwards into a series of back flips and spins, launching senbon from her gloved hands toward the various targets on the practice field as she tumbled gracefully across the well worn grass. Landing in a low crouch, she remained focused on her surroundings as she elegantly leapt into the trees before an exploding tag detonated in almost the exact place where she once stood. She was suddenly surrounded by ten masked enemy ninja as she jabbed, blocked, and kicked her way through the trees; avoiding blows as she went. With each chakra-loaded punch, she managed to take out each of the enemy until the last disappeared in a swirl of smoke.

She remained in a fighting stance on a large branch, breathing heavily and completely soaked in her own sweat, unscathed, when a final figure appeared in a flash behind her; masked with the same design as the previous enemy ninja as he held a ninjato to her porcelain throat.

He brazenly leaned in close to her ear before he whispered, "You have no idea how sexy you look dripping with sweat."

"And you should know better than to let your guard down," the pink-haired kunoichi replied.

With lightning speed, she elbowed him in the side; effectively knocking him off balance, enough for her to escape his grasp. Leaping back and out of his reach, she measured her opponent; studying him for a moment before charging at him with arm drawn back ready to deliver a deadly right cross to the jaw. Before reaching her opponent, she was knocked out of the treetops from behind by what could only be described as a gust of wind. Skidding to a stop on her back, she found herself straddled by the masked ninja who had managed to come up from above and behind her.

"And you should know that I never give up," he said before leaning down low to where he was now only inches from her face. In one swift movement, he removed his mask and his lips crashed into hers. She let out a weak, muffled protest only to bring up her arms the next second around the neck of her "opponent" in order to deepen the kiss. Coming up for air, both ninja were panting as they looked into each other's eyes, deep blue meeting jade green. "Does this mean I win this round?" her husband asked with a cocky smile.

"No. You cheated. You can't expect to knock every enemy female out of the battle with a kiss just like you _think_ you can distract every male with that Sexy no Jutsu of yours. In fact, I promise you that I will _kick your ass_ if you ever try this 'battle technique' on _anyone_ else," she scolded. Naruto knew that she was not seriously mad as she pulled him down into another kiss as soon as she was done with her rant. When they came up for air once more she said, "Besides, you fell for my Sexy no Jutsu and I didn't even have to use a Henge." Sakura giggled as she flipped him onto his back, effectively reversing their positions.

"Fine, you win. Only because you know my weakness all too well," he said with a sexy little lopsided grin.

"Which one is that?" Sakura asked rhetorically.

"That I'm crazy about you," was all he replied.

Sakura blushed and was about to reply when the cry of an eagle made her look up at where the bird had lighted itself on a nearby branch. The graceful messenger swooped down to where it landed on Sakura's outstretched forearm. Taking the message from its leg, Sakura sent the bird back to its roost with an upward push of her arm.

"What is it? Doesn't Baachan know that we still have until this afternoon before we have to report for duty?" Naruto asked as he sat up, causing Sakura to slide back into a sitting position on his outstretched legs while she read the note.

"It looks like it's just a reminder to show up. She has a mission for just the two of us and I don't think she wants us to extend our honeymoon by even a little bit," Sakura replied with a sigh. "Now I'm going to regret this workout. Until today, I haven't trained in two weeks and I felt like I really had to push myself during our spar."

"Remind me to wear my ANBU vest next time, in case you plan on elbowing me in the ribs then," he said as he rubbed his sore side. "I must be getting soft if one of your off day blows hurts this much. Ne, I guess we should go home and clean up. We'll never hear the end of it if we show up sweaty to a meeting with Baachan, dattebayo."

Sakura just rolled her eyes as she stood up, knowing full well what he was insinuating. She offered him a hand as he went to stand.

Still feeling a little playful, Naruto announced, "Last one home has to scrub my back!"

"Not if I get there first!" she cried as they disappeared into the treetops, racing home at full speed.

* * *

Sasuke sat in a dimly lit room. He was no longer being held in the hospital, much to his relief, but he was still having enough trouble with his eyesight that it was much easier to rest on his bed in what could laughingly now be called his apartment. Tsunade could have easily thrown the law book at him for being a missing ninja for 8 years and the various charges that went with every decision he had made during those years. He had deserved the death penalty, but after it was all said and done, he was sentenced to house arrest for one year complete with counseling sessions and there was a good chance going out on missions would not be an option anytime soon. It was a sort of plea bargain he had received for helping them get rid of a corrupt Hokage and the freak that was Kabuto-Orochimaru. He knew he had made many bad decisions and it took a stubborn blonde and the ghost of his brother to make him realize it. Still, he didn't have to hide anymore and that felt surprisingly good.

As far as the rest of Taka was concerned, Jugo was undergoing treatment for his curse condition while being held in a secure part of the village. Without Sasuke around 24/7, he felt much more comfortable being locked up again and the questions about Sasuke's mental health hadn't helped him to control his own urges. Tsunade had sealed his ability to transform, but it wasn't complete and no one, especially Jugo, wanted to risk trying it out in public yet. Karin would serve her term in the Konoha maximum-security prison, but she would be working as a prison medic. It was understood that even one slip up on her part would result in her being extradited to her home country, which still had her listed in their own bingo book for her association with Orochimaru. She was content to stay as close to Sasuke as possible, even though their relationship was strained and awkward at best.

Sasuke was deep in thought when he heard a tap at his window. He got up from his bed and pulled back the simple curtain to reveal his former teammate sitting on the ledge below his window. He hadn't really wanted to talk to anyone yet, but he opened the window anyway to let the man in.

"What do you want, Dobe?" he said sitting back on his bed, since that was the only seating he had in the room.

"I have some time before we have to report to Tsunade and I wanted to see how you were doing, Teme. We got back late last night or else I would have come over sooner," Naruto said matter-of-factly. The ANBU leaned up against the windowpane with his arms crossed, closely studying his former teammate.

Sasuke still wasn't sure how to react to this much more mature version of his former teammate and he felt a little awkward even trying to hold a conversation with him. "By 'we' I'm assuming you mean Sakura?" he asked.

"Yep. I take it you're still wondering what happened while you were gone, huh?" the blonde asked the raven-haired man before him.

"Not really," Sasuke mumbled.

"So, I'm assuming Baachan filled you in on everything you missed while we were gone?" Naruto asked.

"Hn, she gave me a quick summary of what happened with team 7 over the past eight years, but nothing in detail. It was more of a guilt trip and then she said if I wanted to know anything else that I should just ask you," Sasuke replied. It seemed that whenever he tried to ask anyone anything, they simple told him to talk to Naruto. He wanted to looked Naruto more in the eye, but even after Sakura's treatment, he was still having a hard time focusing his eyes. Tsunade had informed him that it would take some time to reverse the damage the high level doujutsu had done to his eyes.

"Well?" Naruto asked lifting a single eyebrow.

"What?"

"Aren't you curious? Don't you want to know _anything_?" Naruto said in an attempt to pull the Uchiha into a conversation. Naruto wanted to repair their friendship first, no matter how bad he secretly wanted to brag about who won Sakura in the end.

"OK, why did you go so far to bring me back?" Sasuke asked as he crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back on the bed.

"I think you should know the answer to that," Naruto answered. "You were the brother I never had and no matter what I knew that you were a friend worth saving."

"Didn't you ever hate me?"

"For being a blind, pig-headed fool?" Naruto gave him a little crooked grin while Sasuke just huffed. "No. I thought I understood you, but even after all that happened, I realized that there was no way to understand without hearing it from you directly. Sasuke, I just hope that one day we can learn to understand each other, and then maybe we'll see where it goes from there."

Naruto got up to leave, having noticed how much Sasuke didn't seem to be in the mood for a conversation. "Sasuke, just know that if you ever want to talk, that I'm here for you. Baachan keeps me pretty busy, but I'm not that hard to find."

"Naruto," Sasuke said as his friend was half way out the window, causing him to pause.

"Yeah."

"I've been wondering, how the hell do you turn your eyes yellow and get that weird color around them?" Sasuke said finally asking the question that had been bugging him since their fight.

"Oh, you mean Sage Mode?" Naruto just smiled. "Just a little something I learned from the toads while you were away. Someday we'll have to get together and I'll show you what I can really do."

"Like you could beat me again, usuratonkachi."

"Bibiri-kun."

With that, Naruto left the Uchiha to ponder his thoughts alone. Sasuke leaned further back against his bed, content to rest his eyes in the dimly lit room while he let his mind wonder. Soon he had fallen asleep. He finally felt relaxed enough to allow his body to get the sleep it had been longing for.

* * *

Two members of ANBU stood before their Hokage waiting for her instruction on their next mission. Tsunade was casually sitting on the front of her new desk, arms crossed, as she faced two of her best ninja. One was a tall blonde male and a shorter pink haired female in a cat mask stood next to him. From their vantage point, the ANBU were both able to look out over the village of Konoha through the large glass window behind the Hokage's desk.

"I'm glad to see that you two returned safely. I'm assuming you both had a good time?"

They both blushed behind their masks thankful that the Hokage couldn't see.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," they answered in unison, both unable to mask the embarrassment in their voices.

Even with all their ANBU training, Tsunade could tell from the way they spoke that she had the reaction she wanted. Tsunade tried not to show her amusement at being able to make two of her ANBU squirm as she riffled through her paperwork to pull out the details of the mission she had for them. She handed the scroll to the tall blonde as the pink haired female stepped next to her teammate to study it alongside him.

"This is your next mission," she said as the tall blonde ANBU studied the mission details she had handed him. "There has been some strange activity in the village since you two went on 'vacation' and I would like you to check out this man," she said holding up a photograph of a man in his early 20's with long brown hair pulled back in a pony tail. He looked like any ordinary civilian except for the way his eyes appeared resolute yet heartbroken even in the photograph. "He is originally from the Grass Country and he has been living in the village for the past couple of months as a tea vendor. I already have your team following him, so direct any questions you may have to your taicho. You will be taking over their investigation, as it will be their turn to watch the Uchiha. With the ongoing reorganization of ANBU, I need this taken care of quickly and quietly. This is not something I want made public. I want you to determine this man's intentions and find out if he is linked to the late night disturbances in some of our more secure areas. Someone is looking for something and we need to find out what it is."

"Are we sure that this started about the same time this man arrived in the village?" asked the pink haired ANBU. Sakura didn't want to even think about the possibility that any of the newly arrived members of team Taka might be involved in this sudden crime spree.

Tsunade seemed to read her thoughts as she answered, "According to Ibiki, there have been reports of this going on _befor_e you two retrieved Sasuke, but only me and the highest ranking ANBU have known about it. Not even Danzo was aware of the attempted break-ins. I have tightened security in all our vital areas, so I'm leaving it up to your team to end this."

"Hai," They said before they disappeared.

* * *

"Is that all the information Taicho had on the investigation?" a masked Naruto asked his teammate. Sakura was leafing through the report as they walked through the halls of ANBU headquarters. Naruto had his fingers laced behind his head as they walked along through the darker underground passages not far from the interrogation rooms where Ibiki practiced the skills of his trade.

"It seems there have been a lot of unexplained attempted break-ins over the last couple of months. The weird thing is they were mostly in the residential parts of town and nothing was taken. It's like someone is looking for something specific, but there is no way of knowing what that is until something finally disappears. The only reason that this man from the Grass Country is under any suspicion is that he's been spotted by the sites of the break-ins a couple of times since then and that they didn't start until after he opened his shop. His business has done really well since it has opened and many of the teenagers have been hanging out there, both civilian and ninja. I guess we've been so busy lately that we didn't have the time to notice it," Sakura said, her attention focused on the pages in her hands that she almost ran into another ANBU coming from the opposite direction down the hall

"Watch were you're going, Ugly," the masked ANBU in a white cloak said when they had stopped inches from each other. Sakura would have been insulted by the remark if she hadn't known who it was behind the mask. As far as this man was concerned she was just waiting for the day when he dropped the nickname altogether.

"Gomen, Commander," Sakura said, blushing under her mask from the embarrassment from almost running right into their Commander. She was just relieved that it was Sai that she had almost run into and not someone like Ibiki.

"I was just on my way to find you. I'm sure you heard from the Hokage all that has been going on while you were away," asked their new ANBU Commander.

"I hear congratulations are in order. You had us all fooled into thinking that you didn't even want to be a part of ANBU and now you're the head man," teased the blonde ANBU to his former teammate and friend. "Sir!" he quickly added when he realized that this also meant that he had to salute his former teammate.

Sai let out an uncustomary laugh at the blonde's antics. "I'll let it slip this one time. I just wanted to know if you had made a decision as to whether or not you were going to remain in ANBU? I have given everyone else a month to come to a decision. It is only fair that I give you the same time frame. I know you both signed up for three years, but with all the changes lately, I just want to give everyone the opportunity to either stay in the Black Ops or go back to regular duty."

"Thanks, buddy. Neither of us has really thought about it, but we'll let you know what we decide soon," Naruto replied.

"It's a big decision. I'm still trying to decide if I want to stay here or go back to the hospital. I've learned so much and even with everything that has gone on, I was really starting to enjoy being in ANBU," Sakura added.

"Very well. Just keep me informed. By the way, have you started on your new mission yet?" their Commander asked.

"We were just looking over the reports," Sakura replied, as she handed Sai the stack of paperwork.

"Looks like it's all here. Let me know if you need any backup. With all the changes, we are stretched a little thin, but I have to agree with Tsunade-sama that this is one of our top priorities. Please send me a copy of anything you find out during the investigation," Sai said, sounding much more like the commander he was becoming as he handed back the paperwork to the waiting hands of his former pink-haired teammate.

"Os," the Uzumakis replied before their new commander continued down the hall.

"It feels a little weird having him in charge doesn't it?" commented Naruto as they watched Sai's retreating form.

"And one day he'll have to report to you," his wife said with a hidden smile.

"Hehe, I never even thought of that. Won't that be fun," he said with a Cheshire cat grin.

"Well, let's start working on interviewing the teashop regulars," Sakura said, effectively changing the subject.

"Lead the way. Who's first on the list?"

"Moegi from Team Ebisu."

End Chapter 13


	14. Tea

Thanks for all the reviews and notes I've been getting. I always love to hear from you guys.

**Naruto and Co. owned by Masashi Kishimoto. This story is about what could be if the hidden Grass Village has ANBU of their own.**

**ANBU Gaiden**

**Chapter 14**

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, the two ANBU came to a stop just above team Ebisu's favorite lunchtime hangout. They could see Moegi, carrot hair pulled back in twin braids down her back, the young woman's features no longer resembled those of the rosy cheeked little girl they once knew. Udon looked much like he use to, but much more tall and lanky. Konohamaru was now a head taller than Moegi, but not quiet at Naruto's height; his scarf no longer dragging on the ground. He had been attempting to work on the traditional Sarutobi facial hair, but it only managed to look like a couple days worth of stubble instead of his attempted goatee.

The three Chuunin were standing outside of Ichiraku's, having just finished lunch, when two ANBU appeared out of nowhere right behind Moegi, effectively startling the small group who had not expected to see the ANBU agents and they had not even felt their approaching presence. Konohamaru's heart leapt into his throat thinking that he had done something stupid again and was busy racking his brain trying to think what it could have been that would cause ANBU to want him. Moegi was scared and confused, as the two agents seemed to be looking at her with intensity. Udon just stood there in a daze, as he wasn't sure how to react to the scene before him.

"Moegi, we would like to speak with you. Konohamaru and Udon, you may leave_. _We will speak with you in a moment," the tall blonde ANBU ordered in customary ANBU fashion. These may be his friends, but it was his duty to suspect _everyone_ until they got to the end of their investigation.

Moegi looked as if she might faint at the possibility of being interrogated by ANBU and Konohamaru stepped in between the blonde ANBU and his teammate in a protective stance; toe to toe with the ANBU, directing killer intent at the tall blonde.

"I am Sarutobi Konohamaru! How dare you suspect my teammate of being anything but a loyal ninja of this village!" Konohamaru declared.

Naruto rolled his eyes behind his mask at the young man's bravado, but he knew the young Sarutobi could easily get in the way of their investigation, no matter how well meant his intentions were.

"Step aside Konohamaru. Don't make me use force," the ANBU in the mask with an orange triangle warned.

"Moegi, Udon, formation S, HURRY!" Konohamaru shouted. With a poof of smoke Konohamaru turned into his latest version of his Sexy no Jutsu in hopes that he would catch even an élite member of ANBU off guard long enough for Moegi and Udon to make a break for it. Unfortunately, for Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon were too afraid to cross ANBU to move a muscle.

Naruto calmly responded, "Please, don't think I haven't seen that one before. Now if you would step aside, we would only like to ask the young lady a couple of questions."

Coming out of the jutsu, Konohamaru's mouth dropped open as he tried to think of a comeback. It suddenly occurred to him that only one person had witnessed that particular pose, replacing the shocked expression on his face with a smirk. "Wait a minute…only one other person knows of that jutsu. Tell me who you really are before I have to…mmphf," he stared before he found himself in a headlock under the arm of the tall blonde ANBU.

"Excuse us. Would you mind carrying on without me?" Naruto asked Sakura as he turned on his heal, squirming Sarutobi in tow as he walked away before she could give him an answer. He had realized his mistake too late and hauled the Chuunin away before the teen could reveal his identity.

"Not a problem," Sakura replied to the retreating form of her husband, trying not to laugh out loud at the strange twist this encounter had suddenly taken. "Now, Moegi, why don't we step over there, out of the way and I'll ask you a few questions."

"Wha…what is going on? Where is he taking him?" Moegi finally managed to stutter out a question, now afraid that her teammate was in trouble and it seemed as if she would be unable to attempt to help him.

"My teammate will take good care of yours," the female ANBU said motioning her head toward Udon who finally realized she was asking him to leave. As Udon exited, Moegi felt a little betrayed, as she was now alone with the pink haired ANBU. Sakura put her hand on the young woman's shoulder and guided her toward a nearby alley where she hoped she would find out the information she was looking for.

Moegi was well known as someone who was very particular about what kind of tea she liked and she had been spotted regularly entering the tea merchant's shop. Sakura was hoping that Moegi had seen something, no matter how small, that might lead to a break in their investigation.

"Moegi, I want to ask you a few questions about the tea merchant you seem to be so fond of lately. According to other members in your class, you frequent the store _at least_ twice a week whereas most people don't go to the teashop more than once a week. May I ask why you apparently like his tea so much?" the ANBU asked the Chuunin.

"He has good tea?" she said as her voice wavered. She really had no idea why her tea drinking habits were being brought into question.

"We have heard as much, but you seem to _really_ like it. You can't be seriously telling me that you drink that much tea," the pinkette asked with hands on her hips.

"Well, the vendor is kinda cute and he gives me free samples of all the new teas he brings into his shop," the young carrot-top replied.

'Now we might be getting somewhere,' Sakura thought to herself. "What kind of teas has he been introducing lately?"

"Mostly herbal teas. He let me try this one tea that had a hint of lemon in it as well as a flowery flavor that I couldn't quite put my finger on. It made my tongue tingle in a most peculiar way and I felt so relaxed that I went home and took a nap. I'm just glad it was my day off, because I would have really been in trouble. Don't tell me I slept through something important. Is that why you're here?" Moegi asked as she came to a conclusion to her unasked question as to why she was being questioned.

Sakura raised a single eyebrow under her mask as the symptoms of the familiar herb became clear to her. Realizing the girl was still waiting for a reply she answered, "No, you are not the one we are investigating. Did he have you try any other herbal teas? What kinds of affects did you have after each one? Be as specific as you can."

"He had me try a bunch of fruity tasting teas, but that was the only one that made me feel differently," Moegi answered. She had completely forgotten by now that her teammate had been dragged off for his own version of questioning and she was starting to become curious as to what was in the tea she had tried earlier that week.

Sakura continued her questioning until she had gleaned all the information she thought useful from the young woman before dismissing her back to her Chuunin duties.

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto had pulled Konohamaru into a much different alley, by his head, where he finally let go of the rather embarrassed teen. Konohamaru, his face having now turned crimson from embarrassment, looked like he was mad enough to kill while he fixed his hitai-ate and scarf that had been rearranged during the headlock and glared at the ANBU before him. "Ne, Niichan, what the hell did you do that for?"

"Because you were about to say something really stupid, Konohamaru! Do you have any idea what happens when the cover of an ANBU is blown? Not even my closest friends know what I do on duty," Naruto said as he glared at the teen through his mask.

The blonde ANBU was almost as annoyed at himself as he was at his friend, having realized that his own big mouth was the one that tipped off the young Sarutobi. Most of the 12 knew their ANBU identities, but that was only because it had taken a team effort to brink Sasuke home. It was understood by the more experienced ninja of the village that secrecy was everything for a member of ANBU. However, some of the younger ninja of the village still needed a reminder of that fact every now and then.

"Obviously not," the teen replied in annoyance. "What, do they make you retire or something like that?"

"More along the lines of 'something like that'," the still masked ANBU replied. He didn't want to go into detail about the tongue lashing he would have received from the Hokage as well as the punishment that was sure to follow, not to mention possible retaliation from every ninja that had a personal grudge against his ANBU persona. "Now I need you to keep your big trap _shut _about what you know. I really don't need you messing up my life because you can't keep a secret. Consider this part of your ninja training and we'll call it good."

"Do I get something out of it in return?" the sly young man asked, thinking that he had a member of ANBU in a position that might be of some use to him.

"I'll buy you ramen for a month and I promise _not_ to practice my interrogation jutsu on you, how does that sound?" Naruto said, knowing that he really had the upper hand when it came to the use of that particular jutsu.

Konohamaru winced at the thought of having interrogation techniques 'practiced' on him and relented. "Fine. I'll keep quiet. But tell me, what do you want with Moegi anyway?"

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask you too. What do you know about the teashop that Moegi visits all the time?" Naruto asked as fell back into his ANBU mannerisms.

"I'm not into tea anywhere near what she is. I like just the plain old green tea myself, but she's been getting into this herbal stuff and the other day she was acting all weird and stuff after she had some free samples. She said that she was going to go home one minute and the next minute she was all spacey and she went back to the teashop. I'm only assuming it was for more tea, so I didn't think anything of it. You don't think she's got a crush on the guy in there do you?" Konohamaru said looking a little concerned at the thought of his teammate having a crush on some out of town stranger and not a cool Konoha shinobi such as himself.

"I can't answer that for you, but I'm more concerned about your teammate's actions on that day. Did she ever tell you why she went back a second time?"

"No, like I said, she was pretty spacey. She walked right past me like she never even saw me. I called to her several times, but I didn't get any reaction," Konohamaru replied.

"If you can think of anything else, let me know, otherwise I'll find you if I have any more questions. Thank you for your time," Naruto replied, as he pondered what Konohamaru had said. The young man shrugged as he walked off in the direction of Ichiraku's and left the blonde ANBU alone in the alleyway. Sakura appeared not long after Konohamaru left only to find her masked husband deep in thought.

"Did you straighten him out?" the pinkette asked with a hidden smirk as she stood next to her husband.

"Yeah. He'll keep quiet. Did you learn anything from Moegi?" Naruto replied, looking down at his teammate.

"I have a feeling we'll find out more when we check the teashop. I have a sneaking suspicion that he drugged her with something and I want to find out what it was," Sakura replied, as the medic side of her was curious to find out if her suspicions were correct. If this was what she thought it was, the tea vendor was not only knowledgeable in teas, but in interrogation herbs as well.

"Konohamaru said Moegi was acting weird the other day and made two trips to the teashop," Naruto said before relating the rest of his interview with his wife and teammate. They compared notes briefly before disappearing from sight.

* * *

Walking toward the teashop, Naruto caught a glimpse of himself in the glass display window of a nearby stand and wrinkled his nose. "Sakura-chan, are you sure you want to go in there looking like this?" Naruto said, referring to the two brunette teenagers that were staring back at them from the reflection. "I'm not sure I want to act 16 again," he said in protest.

"Come on silly. I would think that wouldn't be too hard for you to do," his disguised and amused wife replied.

"Hey, easier said than done," he pouted.

"Now remember, you keep him distracted while I check out the teas. If he's using the herbs I think he is, then we'll have a better idea what he's up to," she said taking his hand and pulling him in the direction of their destination. It was mid-afternoon and not too many teens were in the shop yet, giving the couple a chance to look around the shop without any disturbances. There was a waist high glass counter on three sides of the room which was used as both a counter and display case filled with various teapots and tea related accessories. The back wall was lined with wooden drawers that more than likely held different types of teas. They were all labeled, but in a code known only to the owner. Sakura was reminded a little of the herbal medicine stand where she bought supplies for her soldier pills. There was also a space where the owner would brew tea right in the store for customers to drink at leisure. All in all, Sakura didn't see anything that stood out as suspicious. Naruto looked around, not really knowing what he was looking for. He agreed with Konohamaru that green tea was enough for him and he was completely lost when it came to all these flowery types of tea.

The owner, who matched the photo almost exactly with his long hair tied back in a ponytail, came out from the back room, wiping his hands on the towel at his waist.

"How may I help you two today. I don't think I've seen you around before," the owner said addressing the teenage versions of Naruto and Sakura.

"I'm Sasuke and this is my girlfriend, Hinata. Some of our friends said that you had the best new teas and my girlfriend and I thought we'd stop in," Naruto said as he casually threw and arm around Sakura's shoulders. Sakura was caught off guard and almost lost her balance as she fell into him.

"Was there anything in particular that you wanted to try," the owner asked. He raised his eyebrow as he watched the teens.

Sakura cleared her throat and removed herself out from under Naruto's arm as she regained her balance, shooting him a small look as she did so. Naruto just scratched the back of his head and gave her a look that said 'sorry'.

"My friend, Moegi, said she had some really good herbal tea the other day and I wondered if you had any more available for me to try," Sakura said, as she crossed her arms and leaned into the counter.

"Moegi, let me see, is she the girl with carrot orange hair?"

"Yep that's her. She told me the name of the tea, but I forgot. Sorry."

"I'll be right back. It is a special tea and I store it in the back. Wait here please," he said as he disappeared behind a curtain that separated the store from the storeroom.

"Hinata? Sasuke?" she mouthed silently toward Naruto once the owner had disappeared.

Naruto just shrugged in response as Sakura shook her head before turning around to wait for the reappearance of the owner. She started to tap a fingernail against the glass as they waited and Naruto continued to look around, still feeling a little clueless as to what he was looking for.

"Something doesn't feel right," Sakura said, as the owner was taking too long to return to the front.

"Already on it," Naruto replied as he looked outside and signaled to a Shadow Clone he had made before they had entered the stop.

The clone disappeared and they continued to wait for the return of the owner. Several minutes passed and still no sign of the owner until they heard a loud crash in the backroom. Naruto was hit with a flood of information as his Shadow Clone dispelled and he leapt over the counter and into the backroom, followed closely by Sakura. They entered to find that the owner had already run out the back room door and down the alley. Naruto was in close pursuit and the information that his clone had given him also held which direction the man had headed. Running down the alleyway, they could see him rounding a corner and he moved just like a shinobi, which was surprising, but not unexpected. Naruto was hot on his tail and eventually was able to catch up to him and tackle the man to the ground. Already released from his Henge, a masked Naruto was sitting on top of the man that had been surprisingly easy to catch for a fellow ninja. Sakura arrived and they quickly had the man pulled up and out of the sight of anyone passing by.

"Please, I don't want to draw any attention," the man said as they bound his hands, his face toward a wall.

"Too late, buddy," Naruto replied as he checked the man for any hidden weapons.

"I'm serious. Take me back to the teashop and I'll tell you everything," the man pleaded. Naruto and Sakura just looked at each other and nodded their heads in agreement.

Once they were back at the teashop, closed sign out front, they set the man down amid the boxes and crates and listened as he related his story. He was indeed from the Grass Country, but he was on a secret mission as a member of their village's version of ANBU to find a missing ninja. He explained that it was the ninja that he had been following who had been the one responsible for the break-ins. He even produced a picture of a girl that looked about 16 and a brunette version of Ino. He went on to explain that it was his baby sister and that she had lost it when their father, a Jounin of their village, didn't come back from a mission when they were only children. He had been old enough to understand that sometimes shinobi didn't come back from missions and it wasn't necessarily the fault of the other ninja, but the men that did the hiring were the ones who pulled the strings. His sister had spent her entire life training for the day when she could hunt down and kill the ninja responsible for their father's death. He had tried to talk her out of it to no avail and she had disappeared while he had been on a top secret mission three months ago.

Motioning to the faded bingo book that was among the contents they had removed from his pockets, Hiei, as that was the only name he could give them, said, "That is the bingo book that was found on my father when he was killed. The marked page is the man who was leading the squad that killed my father."

Naruto opened the book to see a picture of a Leaf ninja with dark, spiky hair and sideburns and just the beginnings of a beard forming. At this age, he looked a lot like Konohamaru and the pieces of the puzzle started to make sense. This was an old picture of Asuma and Hiei must have been targeting Moegi to gather more information on the young man and his accomplished but deceased uncle.

"I'm sorry and relieved to tell you this, but I don't think she's going to get her revenge on this man," Sakura said as she looked at the picture over her husband's shoulder. She gave the man a small, but sad smile, but he was unable to see it due to the mask she wore now that her Henge was gone.

"So you know him?" Hiei asked. "We must warn him that she is here and set up a trap to catch her before she does something stupid."

"Well, it would be more correct to say we knew him. The teen you've seen with Moegi is his nephew. The man in the picture died several years ago," Naruto added ruefully.

"Oh," the Grass ninja replied. "I guess that makes my mission a little more interesting. Once she learns this, she may go after any family he has left. I must speak with your Hokage. I can no longer do this without her knowledge."

"Come on. As much as I would like to believe you, we need to make a visit to my superiors first before you go anywhere near the Hokage." Naruto said as he helped the bound man to his feet. "You'll need to convince _them_ that you are really here on a mission before that happens."

* * *

Ibiki stepped out of the small room that they use for interrogation to find Naruto and Sakura waiting. They had already given a copy of their report to Sai and were waiting to find out what the interrogation team had discovered. Hiei's story was plausible, but that didn't mean it was the truth and it was against Konoha policy to let anyone from outside the village to poke around in their business uninvited.

Ibiki walked toward the waiting pair and said, "Well, his story checks out. He must be desperate to find his sister if he surrendered that easy. He's registered as an A-class ninja in the bingo book so he should have put up more of a struggle."

"I'll say. He got past my clone pretty quickly, but once we were outside he didn't want to draw attention to himself," Naruto said as he stood up straight from where he had been lounging against the wall.

"I've already informed Tsunade-sama, so she should be here soon to interview him herself. I'll leave him to you two then. I have a feeling your mission is about to change."

"We have that same feeling. Thanks, Ibiki-san," the pink haired ANBU replied as he turned down the hall toward his next interrogation.

Sakura and Naruto entered the small, dark room where Hiei was being held and found him still tied to a chair in the center of the room. No one said anything until Tsunade appeared a short time later. After a long talk with the Hokage, accompanied by a reply letter of apology from the Hidden Grass Village's Kage, it was decided that the two ANBU would supervise his search for the missing nin and escort them back to the Grass Country when it was over. They would still use the teashop as a front, but with all of ANBU now aware of what was going on, it would be easier to deal with this little problem. Hiei had been one step behind his sister, who he referred to as Koyuki, until now. Tsunade already sent a coded message to Kurenai and Konohamaru to stay on alert, but not to do anything out of the ordinary. As far as information went, Hiei was left out of the loop as to who Asuma's living relatives were and any other ninja related information. They believed his purpose, but trust was not something they gave away so freely.

They released the Grass ANBU to go back to his life as a teashop owner as they followed closely behind taking full use of their hensojutsu as they trailed behind him unseen by the rest of Konoha. Tenzo (Yamato) had joined their group as they had slipped the Grass ninja a couple of tracking seeds just in case. For the next couple of days, nothing much happened, as life seemed to go on just as it always did for a ninja village. Sakura spent her time perched up above the eaves of the teashop as she was the best at concealing her chakra for the longest period of time. This way she could watch the man and his customers.

After a couple of very boring days it began to rain, making it miserable for the ANBU that were on duty outside, but it was all part of the deal as they pulled out their cloaks and continued their surveillance. Naruto was starting to wonder if this man was really looking for his sister when a young girl, no older than 10 came in to his shop. The blonde ANBU made a mental note of her, as he had not seen a girl with golden blonde hair, similar in shade to his, in the village before. Other than the Yamanaka clan and the Hokage, there were not very many blondes in the village. Moments later the girl came out of the shop and disappeared down the street. Naruto sent a clone after her as he did not want to lose sight of the young blonde, just in case.

He knew something was up when Hiei closed up the shop and braved the elements to follow her only a few minutes later. Sakura was right behind him, still concealed by her jutsu, and she motioned for Naruto and Tenzo to follow. Waiting until they were side by side, she handed Naruto a note that read 'Nii-san, I know you are here. I have found him. Please, let me take care of this my own way.' The ANBU exchanged looks and continued on their way after the man on the streets below who was winding his way through the streets of Konoha in search of the mysterious girl.

End Chapter 14


	15. Escorts

Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers and readers who are following this story. You make my day and I hope this story makes yours a little more interesting-if only a little.

Quick grammer:

hapi - style of coat commonly worn by sushi chiefs and taiko players.

niku jaga or niku jyaga-simmered beef and vegetables commonly made by people in rural Japan.

**Naruto and the Narutoverse belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Hot springs inspired by one in Steamboat Springs. There is also a similar one in Gumna Prefecture, Japan.  
**

**ANBU Gaiden**

**Chapter 15**

Naruto's clone followed the blonde girl down alleyways, meandering behind houses and shops until they were almost to the edge of the village. Something seemed off in the way the girl moved, she was fast and it seemed that she flew rather than ran. She ducked into a building that appeared to be unoccupied, as there was a for rent sign in the window. Dropping down behind a dumpster across from the building, Naruto's clone watched to make sure no one else was around before moving through the shadows quickly and quietly, taking full advantage of his training to avoid being seen.

With his back against the wall, he was able to peer into a high window of the building and look inside. There were two people inside; a hooded and cloaked figure that appeared to be talking to the child, but the words were too quiet to understand. He watched in amazement, as the little girl seemed to disappear under the cloak and completely vanish from sight. He could sense nothing from the little girl, no chakra, no scent, nothing. The other figure, however, was most definitely a shinobi. He was sensing some strong chakra, but nowhere near the amount he had. Watching in amazement, he witnessed the cloaked and hooded figure teleport out of sight, leaving the clone to curse under his breath. He had lost them.

* * *

Sakura watched Naruto's back as they leapt from rooftop to rooftop in the rain. He suddenly stopped as a flood of information hit him when his clone that he had tracking the girl dispelled.

"What is it?" Sakura said as she came up next to her husband.

"He lost them," he said as he started to leap across the tile roofs one again, Tenzo leading them as they followed behind Hiei.

"There is more than one of them?" Sakura said as she was now matching his pace as they went.

"Something's not right. I don't think Hiei is telling us everything," her blonde teammate replied, deep in thought as the rain ran off his cloak.

* * *

Konohamaru was standing under an awning wondering if he really wanted to make a run for it or wait for the rain to let up. Since it had been raining for all day, it was more from a desire not to get wet again than anything that kept the young Sarutobi from leaving what little protection the awning was providing. Hands deep within his pockets, he was about ready to make a run for it when a figure in a cloak landed in the street before him. Slightly caught off guard, he only raised an single eyebrow in response. It had been a miserable morning and he really wouldn't be surprised if this was trouble looking for him. The hooded figure turned toward him, but seemed to be waiting for him to break the silence.

"May I help you?" Konohamaru asked suspiciously.

"There is only one way you could help me. You took away my father and my dreams and for that you must pay!" came the strained feminine voice, full of emotion that was barely kept in check.

"What are you talking about? I don't remember taking anyone's father away. I haven't been on any assassination missions either. Who are you?" he replied, taking his hands out of his pockets and getting into a more defensive pose.

"Liar! I have proof that it was you! His body had cuts from your chakra knives. Everyone knows how legendary you are with those things. How can you deny it?"

"Chakra knives? I don't even use chakra knives. Are you mental or something?" Konohamaru said holding his hands up in defense. 'Wait a minute; this must be the girl Tsunade-sama warned me about. She must have me confused with Asuma-ojisan.' Addressing the woman in the street who had gotten into a fighting stance of her own he said, "Lady, I think you have me confused with someone else."

"I know it was you! I have spent my whole life waiting for this moment and I've finally found you!"

Konohamaru was about to voice another protest, but apparently the time for talk was over. A small figure came out from under the cloak of the girl who had been questioning him and flew with amazing speed toward the Leaf shinobi, leaving Konohamaru with barley enough time to do a replacement jutsu to avoid the attack. The smaller figure had used a small knife to strike at the replacement and ended up with the blade stuck in the log that appeared in his place. Struggling to free the instrument, the smaller figure eventually gave up,released it, and spun around, seemingly searching for the missing ninja. Konohamaru had hidden himself in a nearby alley, out of sight from his attacker.

Without much warning, he could feel as if there were eyes on him and Konohamaru turned his head to see the face of a little blonde girl, brown eyes meeting blue, over his left shoulder. He jumped out into the street, water soaking his hair and cloths as he was finally forced to stand out in the rain. Making a series of hand signs, Konohamaru slapped his hand into the mud hoping to catch both of them in the jutsu. However, it only caused the ground around the taller girl to turn into a patch of water logged quicksand from his earth jutsu. The woman began to sink, but the blonde girl continued her attack unhindered. The ground was too muddy for Konohamaru to put any of his boulder attacks into play, so he did the next best thing and formed a shadow clone, attempting to get a Resengan formed before the blonde girl reached him, but she was too fast. By this time, it was very obvious that the little blonde girl was some sort of puppet. The craftsmanship made her look much more human in appearance unlike the puppets used by Konkuro of Suna and anyone could easily mistake the figure for a real life little girl.

As the puppeteer managed to fight both the quick sand and control the puppet, Konohamaru was forced to fend himself from the small puppet that attacked relentlessly. The 'clang, clang' of their weapons echoed through the rain and it was all he could do in the muddy street to block her attacks knowing that puppets usually went hand in hand with poison. If this woman was intent on killing him, he did not wish to get even a small scratch from this little creature. The puppet was moving so quickly that his clone ended up doing his best to block and hit much like the original was. Standing back to back, the now soaking wet pair was only able to send out the occasional kunai, but the little puppet was able to dodge them easily.

The unknown kunoichi was already waist deep in the mud when three figures appeared out of nowhere to break up the fight. The pink haired ANBU came down directly in front of the little puppet and sent it flying in the opposite direction with a backhanded blow, shattering it on a nearby building. The blonde ANBU landed in a defensive stance in front of the panting Chuunin who dispelled the shadow clone when the pair arrived. One more ANBU was spotted on a nearby rooftop, but remained where he was as warning to the muddied kunoichi more than anything. Hiei stepped out from the shadows and stood between the silent ANBU and the woman whose hood had finally fallen back in her struggle; revealing a young kunoichi with brunette hair pulled back in a tight bun; her cheek smeared with mud.

"Koyuki, stop this madness!" Hiei said as he stood on the edge of the pit, his eyes filled with determination and pity.

"You can't stop me! I will finally have my revenge on father's killer! I am doing what you should have done a long time ago!" she spat.

Hiei felt the guilt hit him as he watched her struggle. The more she fought the jutsu, the deeper she sank. He had blamed himself for her recklessness many times and this only drove the proverbial knife deeper into his heart.

"Koyuki," he began, "take a good look at this young man. Could he possibly be the one you have been looking for?"

The muddied kunoichi gave him an angry glare before looking at the young man hiding behind the Leaf ANBU. He looked so much like the picture, but that picture was at least 15 years old. Doubt started to plague her mind and she brought her hands to her head, grabbing it as if in pain from the frustration, eyes tightly closed as she cried, "It has to be him. He's the only one that looks anything like the picture in Tosan's book?"

"Imoto," Hiei said comfortingly, kneeling down to her eye level as he spoke. "That's not him. The one you want is dead. Please, let's just go home and forget all of this. Father knew what he was doing when he accepted that mission and so did the man he fought. It is all part of being a ninja, you know that as well as I do. Why won't you accept it?" Hiei said as he extended his hand out to his sister who was just within reach.

Looking at his offered hand with a pained expression, a renewed look of anger and frustrasion washed over his face as she slapped it out of her way.

Looking dejected, Hiei said something that made her look up one last time, "I didn't want to do this, but you leave me little choice." As soon as she made eye contact with him he did a couple of quick, one handed hand signs; her head going limp the moment the jutsu was activated.

He looked up at the ANBU that had accompanied him and said, "She is harmless now. I will take her to your holding cell and prepare for the journey. It is time to go home."

The blonde ANBU nodded toward Konohamaru and he reversed the jutsu so that she was laying on the muddied ground instead of in it. Hiei carefully picked her up in his arms and he began walking slowly back toward ANBU headquarters. Sakura picked up the broken puppet and placed it carefully in a bag, knowing enough about them to not take anything for granted.

"What was that about?" the young Sarutobi asked as he shook some of the mud from his cloths.

"She is just one very confused young woman. One of the many in this world I'm afraid," Tenzo said as he leapt down from his perch on the rooftop. "Go home and clean up, Konohamaru. You did a good job."

"I'm taking you up on that offer later," Konohamaru said, directing his comment at the blonde.

"Yea, yea, later," the blonde said as he watched Hiei walk down the street. In a flash, Konohamaru was left alone on the street as the ANBU disappeared from sight.

* * *

It was still raining later that night as the Uzumakis prepared for bed. It had been a long week and the hot bath that they had shared had worked the cold out of their bones from being in the rain most of the afternoon, but the heat of the water had also succeeded in draining the last of their energy. Naruto stretched out on their bed, still full from the ramen that he had eaten while treating Konohamaru to his promised reward for being a good little Chuunin. Sakura finished her bedtime preparations and crawled into bed next to him, resting her head on his bare shoulder. Once the light was turned off, all that could be heard was the rain hitting the windowpane.

Letting out a great big yawn before he spoke, Naruto said, "So, I guess tomorrow we'll be off to the border with Grass Country. It seems like we only just came back from our last trip and now we're off again." Letting out another yawn, he kissed his wife on the forehead, working his shoulder blades deeper into the mattress as sleep was starting to claim him.

"Hmm, this will be the longest we've had to go with our masks on too. Think we can be as good as Kakashi-sensei at eating without showing our faces?"

Naruto let out a sleepy laugh. "I don't think we could ever be that good." Letting out another yawn he said, "I can't keep my eyes open anymore. Goodnight, Sakura-chan."

"Hmm," was all she replied.

* * *

Hiei was waiting outside of ANBU headquarters with an ox cart loaded with all the supplies from his shop that he was taking home. Koyuki was to travel in the cart, chakra sealed and under a sleep jutsu until they reached the boarder. It was a two day journey at normal speed, giving the three ninja plenty of opportunity for conversation. Sakura and Naruto had decided to travel light and their packs hardly made a bulge under their standard issue ANBU cloaks.

Once everything was cleared with their commander and the Hokage, the trio set off down the road. Sakura and Naruto followed closely behind the ox cart lead by Hiei and they spent the first day traveling in silence. They didn't expect much action, but you never knew if someone would consider this small caravan more important than they really were. Naruto kept a few clones in the trees just in case they had some trouble, and it made him feel more at ease with a few extra sets of eyes.

They only stopped every few hours to let the ox take a break. Hiei found it odd that the blonde Leaf ninja liked to meditate during these brief breaks, but didn't bother to ask about it. Unknown to the Grass ninja, Naruto was scanning the area in Sage Mode. His mild case of paranoia worked in their favor, as he sensed the presence of a small band of bandits that had spotted them and were busy planning mischief.

It was a rag-tag bunch of about twelve men that tried to attack them. They had seen the oxcart and thought it would be worth their while to take the goods and sell them off for profit. The bandits had failed to realize that the hooded figures were ANBU or that this small caravan was a group of ninja transporting a prisoner. They jumped out at the group hoping to have the element of surprise. Unfortunately for them, the small caravan was well prepared for their attack. Hiei stayed next to the cart and fought off anyone who managed to make it past Sakura and Naruto. Years of being a team together allowed the pair to defend with deadly precision and the Grass ninja was in awe at their teamwork as they fought silently and swiftly, no obvious signals going between them. Naruto never even had to make a single clone as his speed and skill with just his basic taijutsu were enough to handle six men at once. Sakura knocked down three at once when she made a small crater in the ground with her fist. Two rough characters managed to make it past them and came face to face with the Grass ninja, but he quickly took care of them with only a few well placed kicks and jabs. The final bandit attempted to make a run for it before he was caught with an enhanced roundhouse kick from Sakura that sent him flying into a nearby tree. Nothing fancy and no one appeared to break a sweat. Within a matter of minutes, the Leaf ANBU had the bandits tied up together and had sent word back to the village that they would need someone to come pick up their defeated attackers. Naruto left a clone to watch them until their reinforcements showed and the three set off down the road once more.

As they made camp that night, Sakura was setting out the sleeping bags that she had pulled from one of her storage scrolls before working on preparing some fish Naruto had caught for dinner. Hiei was feeding the ox while Naruto went for some firewood. Once a fire was blazing and Sakura had set the fish on skewers around it to cook, Hiei finally decided to break the silence as she worked. Turning toward Naruto he asked, "I'm amazed at how well you two work together. Have you been teammates long? You read each other almost as good as a married couple."

Naruto scratched his head and laughed at this, only causing confusion for Hiei. "We've had a lot of missions together. Teamwork is something our village puts a lot of focus on," was all the blonde ANBU replied. He didn't want Hiei to realize just how accurate that statement was.

"Well, I must congratulate your village on a job well done then. Our village sets up their teams similar to the way I've seen the Genin teams around Konoha. From what I've seen on my missions I suppose that is standard for our world. However, the older I get, the fewer active shinobi there are in my age group. It makes it a little harder to work as a team when your teammates are constantly changing," he said.

"Can't argue with that," Naruto replied.

Sakura nodded in agreement, knowing that such a statement reminded both of them about their first few weeks when Sai had joined their team. They fell into an awkward silence again as they waited for dinner to cook. Once the fish were done, each person took their share and began to eat, careful not to reveal any identities. Finally, Naruto had to speak his mind about something that had been bothering him.

Pointing a half eaten fish at their prisoner, Naruto stated sternly, "You know, you could have told us what her preferred jutsu was. It would have made catching her a hell of a lot easier." He was good at taking care of the unexpected, but it didn't mean he liked it.

"I understand where you are coming from and I'm sorry that I left out that bit of information. I underestimated her before and I should have known better that she would be determined enough to hurt someone, anyone, to get to her goal," he said before glancing at the still sleeping Koyuki. "I apologize for my carelessness. I only pray that I can help her so that it will not happen again."

Naruto replied, arms crossed over his chest, "I'll accept you apology on our friend's behalf. That young man has enough trouble with women that I'm sure he will appreciate it. But don't be surprised if she tries that again in the future and we don't go as easy on her as we did this time around." The blonde ANBU was not wholly satisfied with Hiei's answer, but he knew what it was like to try to change a person's mind once they were focused on doing things the hard way.

Hiei nodded his head in response and went back to eating his dinner before it got cold. He knew it was going to be a lot of hard work to get his Imoto to realize that her way was not the right way. It did not go unnoticed by either Leaf ninja that he seemed to steal glances at the sleeping figure every so often.

Having watched how concerned the Grass ninja was about his sister, Sakura said, "She _is_ very good with that puppet of hers. You can tell that she has put a lot of work into perfecting that jutsu. Her style reminds me so much of a puppeteer that I once came across, but this one seems like it's more personal. Was it your father that taught her that technique?"

"You are very perceptive. He did teach her that jutsu and I think that is why she has put so much of herself into perfecting the technique. He would have been very proud of her," he said as he looked at the sleeping girl. Turning his gaze back towards the fire he said, "She's only 16, yet she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders. I only wish there was something more that I could do for her."

"Going as far as you did to bring her home took a lot of courage. I think you are doing more for her than you'll ever know," Sakura replied, glancing at the masked Naruto, who nodded his head in understanding.

* * *

Naruto and Sakura took turns watching that night. Being in a foreigner in their country, Hiei was content to sleep near his sister. He was a guest in their country and he was well aware that they had him under close watch as he had come uninvited into their village in the first place. The next day was as uneventful as the first; however, they managed some small talk, as they had grown a little more comfortable in each other's presence, yet they carefully avoided any topic that was specific to their respective villages. The landscape started to change from the large ancient trees of the Fire Country, to the tall grasses that gave Hiei's country its name. As they neared the boarder, they could see a small welcoming party coming toward them, stopping at the edge of some low rocky hills just on their side of the boarder.

"Those friends of yours?" the blonde ANBU asked Hiei.

"Yes, they are here to make sure that the deal is kept between our leaders. Mostly a formality as you have been most helpful in my search for Koyuki," he replied.

The trio stopped the oxcart at the border and the Grass delegates came forward to greet them. Once they had exchanged simple greetings, the lead Grass ninja inspected Koyuki and found that everything was as it should be. Turning toward the Leaf shinobi, he said, "Our Kage appreciates your help in this matter. I hope that this will lead to a better working relationship in the future."

"We are glad to be of help. The Hokage understands and thanks you for the offer. She does ask that next time you be more forward in your need for aid," Sakura said, handing him the scroll that Tsunade had sent along with them. It was an invitation to talks for a possible peace agreement between the two countries.

Once the prisoner transfer was completed, they watched the Grass ninja until they were out of sight before Sakura released a dove carrying a message back to Tsunade. The bird returned a few hours later with a message for the ANBU who had been waiting, hidden in some trees not far from where the border exchange had taken place. Sakura removed the message from the bird's leg and sent it back toward it's roost. She read it silently to herself as Naruto read it over her shoulder.

"One night off? That is all she gave us?" he grumbled under his breath, looking over the miniature scroll that Sakura had removed from the bird's leg.

"We don't have to be back in Konoha until two days from now, which won't take us long now that we can go through the trees. I know of a resort town nearby and there is a rustic hot springs there with shared bathing," she said sing-songing the last syllables in an attempt to entice him to cheer up.

"All right Sakura-chan," he said sounding convinced but not assured. "I'll go if you go bathing with me," he added with a sly grin.

"We'll see," was all she said.

* * *

Clad like any ordinary civilian, they arrived at a small resort town on the north side of the Fire Country that bordered the Grass Country. It did not have any attractions other than the hot springs; so much of the traffic was either locals or people just passing through. However, there was a small festival that weekend which meant that the small number of rooms in the village were almost all unavailable. They could only find one small room on the edge of town. It had the basics and they were too tired to find alternative accommodations. All they needed was a place to sleep and clean up.

Both of them were tired from their mission, as uneventful as it had been. They made a quick stop at a local market to pick up something for dinner. The room had a small cook stove in a kitchenette as well as a rice steamer. Sakura prepared some rice and made some niku jaga with the supplies they had picked up on their way. There wasn't much else in the room except a couple of futons and a low table.

When dinner was ready, they sat down on the floor with the bowls of food that Sakura had prepared for them arranged on the small table. Sakura knelt comfortably next to her husband who was sitting cross-legged, both saying "Itadakimasu" before they ate.

"Sakura-chan, not to sound rude or anything, but when did you get to be such a good cook? I always thought that Hinata was the best cook among our friends, but I think you out did her this time," he said with a smile on his lips as he looked at his wife and teammate.

"Well, I tried to make Tsunade dinner a few months ago. It was quickly decided that I needed to take some cooking lessons to learn how to concentrate more on flavor and less on making it healthy. I thought Tsunade was a tough teacher, but I took some lessons from Ayame and she's even more demanding than Shisou," she said with a blush.

"Well, you did a good job. It's not ramen, but I could stand to eat it on occasion," he said with a grin. She punched him lightly on the shoulder for his comment, but the look on her face did not show true annoyance. It was more of a flirtatious smile.

"I wanted to keep it a secret that I was taking cooking lessons. I hope you don't mind," Sakura confessed. "I was sure you would tease me endlessly if you knew. I would have shown off my skills to you sooner, but I haven't had the time to make a real meal until tonight," she replied with a sideways glance at the man beside her.

They finished eating their meal and left the dishes until morning. They were both too tired to do much else. Sakura excused herself and walked to the shared bathroom down the hall to remove the remains of their mission on her skin. It wasn't long before she returned refreshed, allowing Naruto his turn in the bathroom. While he was taking care of business, she laid out two futons next to each other on the floor and cast the covers on top of those. They could not relax completely being ninjas away from their home village, but they relaxed as much as they dare in each other's arms before falling to sleep, the distant sounds of the festival in the background.

* * *

"Good Morning, Sakura-chan." Naruto was always cheerful in the mornings after a good night's rest. Sakura slowly opened her eyes and he kissed her on the tip of her nose as they snuggled in the early morning light. She could hear his stomach growling and got up to start a simple breakfast of miso soup and rice. She had on only his t-shirt as she put some water on the stove to boil.

"Sleep well Naruto-kun?" she asked. She only added "–kun" when she was in a particularly flirty mood.

"Mmhhmm. I didn't realize how tired I was until my head hit the pillow," he added with his famous grin across his face.

Sakura now sat next to him on the futons as she waited for the water to boil. She brushed some of his yellow bangs away from his eyes. Naruto sat up and looked her in the eye. He gently brushed some of her pink hair behind one of her ears and gave her a tender loving kiss on her forehead. She could hear the water starting to boil; she got up, and resumed breakfast preparations. He was only in his boxers so he threw on his hapi coat, as the room was a little chilly. He wanted to make the most of today because they had to be in Konoha by sunset that same evening.

"Breakfast is ready," Sakura said with a loving look on her face as she arranged the simple meal on their little table. She was about to sit down when he grabbed her hand, pulled it to his mouth and kissed her palm.

"Want to hang out here a little while before we check out the sights down town?" he said with a twinkle in his eyes, as he started to run his thumb up and down the place where he had just kissed. She could tell right away what he was planning.

"OK, but only a little while. I still want to check out the hot springs before we head home," she reminded him.

"As long as I'm with you, I'll go anywhere," he said taking his place next to the table; gazing lovingly at his wife. She sat next to him and they enjoyed their breakfast. It didn't take them long to finish breakfast as they still had a lot they wanted to do.

* * *

When they got dressed, Sakura decided that she wanted to enjoy the festival for a bit. Packing some rice balls for their journey home, she stashed them in Naruto's bag. They then straightened up the room and proceeded to check out of the inn.

They toured the main road where the festival was set up. There were several food venders that Naruto insisted on checking out and she wanted to pick up a few local souvenirs to take back to their friends at home. She picked out a set of barrettes for Ino that were purple with a delicate silver design set in them. She even found an intricate fan for Tamari. The Suna kunoichi and Shikamaru had decided to get married shortly after the baby was born and Sakura wanted to get her something she could carry in the ceremony. She picked out a couple more things before they headed off toward the hot springs.

The hot springs wasn't much more than a couple of man-made pools next to the river. The hot water flowed down the mountain side into a much smaller pool before it flowed into the larger bathing area. They had utilized the river's water to blend in with the hot water from above allowing visitors a chance to bath without getting over heated. No one was around because they were all at the festival so Naruto gave the manager enough to cover an hour's worth of private bathing. He had the foxy grin on his face letting her know that she had him all to herself. The water was pretty warm, so they were content to sit close and talk about all that was going on in their lives. He had his arm wrapped around her shoulders and gave it a squeeze as he kissed her on the forehead. She leaned into his chest and let her head rest on his shoulder. It felt nice just to sit there and relax without worrying about the world around them. After about half an hour of sitting in the water, Sakura started to get dizzy from the heat and gently released herself from his arms.

"Ready to get out of here?" he asked Sakura as she turned to climb out of the pool.

"Yes. The heat is getting to me."

She climbed out of the pool and dried herself off before putting on her cloths. Naruto followed her and it wasn't long before they were ready to go. They had enjoyed the lack of responsibility all morning, but decided it was time to head home. It was a quick trip home with no diversions to speak of. Sakura had enjoyed their brief time off together. She wondered to herself how long they would be able to go on missions together. One of these days they may end up with Genin of their own and he'll eventually become Hokage. She would just have to enjoy these missions while they lasted.

End Chapter 15


	16. One Last Mission

Thanks for all my loyal readers and fans over the past few months. You have all made my days while I wrote this and I now present you with the final chapter of my version of our favorite knucklehead and his favorite teammate in ANBU. Enjoy.

**Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I'm sorry to say that this story is complete.**

**ANBU Gaiden**

**Chapter 16**

The sun had just started its assent when Sakura awoke to the cooing of a morning dove at of their window. The cream-colored bird cooed continually until it saw movement from the humans below. Normally, she would just roll over and ignore its song, but this dove was sending an early morning message to the ANBU that there was an emergency and that they had to get up and be at the Hokage tower in five minutes. The longstanding tradition for the use of birds as messengers helped the Leaf Village to alert specific ninja without startling the civilian population when there was an emergency and a dove was the preferred bird for the early morning alerts.

Sakura opened her eyes and saw the dove just sitting on the windowsill of their window that they had left partially open all night. Once she sat up on her elbows, the bird grew silent; bobbing its head, giving its most thoughtful look as it waited. Naruto had also apparently heard the dove's call as he rolled over and started mumbling something about 'Baachan' and 'Damn bird'. He rolled right out of bed and walked to the bathroom like a zombie. Sakura hopped up with a little more enthusiasm and stared to put her ANBU uniform on as fast as her sleepy mind would allow her to work. Grabbing their gear from a nearby dresser, she collected her uniform and threw Naruto's on the bed, knowing that in his stupor he might possible try to put on hers.

As she fastened her armor, she could hear a crash followed by muffled cursing. Naruto wasn't the most awake person in the morning and ANBU had only made it easier to wake him up, but he still needed about 10 minutes to get the fog from his brain, which they didn't have. She simply smiled and went back to her own rushed morning ritual. By the time Naruto emerged from the bathroom, he was now alert enough to start getting his uniform on, giving Sakura her chance at the bathroom.

"Hun, I left your stuff on the bed. Can you make some toast for me?" Sakura asked as she passed him on the way to the bathroom. Her stomach was growling more than normal and she knew she needed to get at least a little something in it before they left.

"Mmhmm," he mumbled in response.

He popped some bread in the toaster before throwing on the rest of his armor. Running his hand through his hair, he figured that would be good enough on a morning like this. Once Sakura emerged from the bathroom, she ran to the kitchen to get the toast, holding it in her mouth as she ran toward the front door, almost knocking over her husband in the process. This had been a lot easier when they had separate apartments, rushing around with another person in the same scenario made getting out the door quickly a challenge as they practically stumbled over each other again in the doorway while they got their boots and masks on. They had had only enough time to shove the meager breakfast under their masks as they flew over the rooftops.

Upon reaching the Hokage's office, they met up with their old team and were briefed on the situation. They had rejoined their original two ANBU team members since both of them had not been a part of Danzo's Root. For an ANBU it was a simple mission to bring back a kid from the academy that had been rather upset at not passing the last exam and since he didn't have any parents, he felt that he no longer wanted to stay in the village. The young boy had raided the weapons storage room earlier that morning which had set off the alarm, but the ANBU on duty had been unable to catch him. Tsunade knew that with Naruto's past, he and his team would be perfect for this retrieval mission. Once the Hokage had given them a brief rundown of what had happened earlier that morning, they vanished from sight in clouds of smoke as soon as their meeting was over.

* * *

Naruto was flying through the trees following the rest of his team. It was the redheaded member of their team that first spotted the kid; silently motioning to the rest of the team where he was. Their taicho gave the formation order in hand signals and the three of the four dispersed leaving Naruto to come up behind the kid. Somehow, this 12-year-old boy had managed to get a hold of a rather impressive looking set of swords, but obviously didn't know how to use them as he awkwardly swung one around when he heard a branch snap, alerting him to the presence of the tall blonde ANBU coming from behind. The sword was too heavy for him to handle and he stumbled forward as he swung it awkwardly. More than likely, he was hoping to use the swords as a method of gaining favor with whatever ninja he was hoping to join after leaving the village.

"Don't come near me!" the young boy yelled out of frustration. He was breathing hard and on the verge of tears. Naruto found it hard not to feel sorry for the boy.

"Just come back with us and we'll get this all straightened out. No one wants to hurt you," Naruto said trying to calm the young man down. He could sense his other three teammates nearby so he knew the boy now had nowhere else to go.

"No way! No one cares about me back there! I'm going somewhere someone will appreciate me!"

Naruto winced at the all too familiar words but slowly started to approach the boy. "I know it may be hard to believe, but I bet there is someone back at the village that will be sad to learn that you're gone."

"Nobody will even notice," the boy said as the arm holding the heavy blade began to relax.

Naruto knew that he was starting to get to the boy and kept his approach slow. "Well, someone must have noticed or else we wouldn't have been sent after you. What about classmates, maybe even a teacher or someone else from the academy?"

"Well, there is this one girl I really like," he began, but closed his eyes tight and yelled in frustration, "but I don't think she even knows I exist!"

'Damn, so close,' he thought. Speaking of which, he could see Sakura come up right behind the boy ready to grab him at any moment. "Now, come on, I bet if we just went home and grabbed some ramen at Ichiraku's we could come up with more than just _one_ person," Naruto said as he stepped up within reach of the weapon. "If you leave like this, no matter who you join up with will only think of you as a nameless tool to be used for their own purposes. Don't you want to go back to where you can learn to do your best and work with people who care about you?"

"Well, I…" the boy began as Naruto quietly relieved the boy of the weapons. He didn't say it, but the boy had conceded and nodded his response. Naruto took the boy reassuringly by the shoulder and the five of them made their way back to the village.

The boy was surprised when the pink haired ANBU walked up next to him and placed a hand on his other shoulder. He hadn't even noticed the other three ANBU's presence and he was just glad he didn't have to find out what would have happened had he not decided to go back with the blonde. The mask hid her proud smile as she looked from the boy to her mask-clad husband. She knew he would make a good Hokage someday and times like this just went to show how much he really cared for the villagers.

Back at the village, Naruto bought the boy some ramen, as their taicho and other teammate went back to report their success to the Hokage. He didn't eat this time around because he was still in uniform, but he and Sakura sat with him as Naruto let the boy share his short life's story. It was a story very typical of orphans who lived in the village as his parents had been killed on separate missions. Iruka showed up a short time later, thanks to a message from Ayame, and the four of them showed the little boy the kind of people he had almost been willing to leave behind just a few short hours ago all for the sake of power.

Naruto couldn't help but feel a connection with this kid. War created many orphans and they all had to deal with feelings of inferiority and loneliness. No matter how many friends they had, there was always an empty home or room waiting for them when all their friends returned to their families for the evening. Wishing he could do something more for kids like these, he looked at Iruka who was listening intently to the boys story in between loud slurps as he ate his ramen with fervor. Iruka had played a huge role in his life early on, maybe there was something he could do for these kids in return.

He was patiently listening to the kid and thinking over the new idea that had popped into his head when Sakura had to excuse herself part way through the conversation as the smell of the ramen was making her queasy. Ayame watched with interest as the pink haired ANBU disappeared. Naruto also noticed, but she had signed that she'd be right back and he returned his attention to the boy.

When his early morning meal was finished, Iruka offered to walk the boy home. Naruto went to find Sakura and saw her coming up the street just as he turned toward the Hokage's office. She walked as if she was feeling better and he caught up to her as they continued on to report to the Hokage.

"What was that all about?" he asked his wife.

"I'm not sure, but I just felt a little sick back there. Don't worry about it, I'm sure it's nothing," she said giving him a reassuring smile behind her mask. "So, do you think he'll be OK?"

"Yeah, I don't think he realized what he was leaving behind. He really isn't a bad kid, just a little upset about not passing the last exam. Funny thing is that it wasn't even the final. They still have another week of school before then. I promised him I'd give him a little help after school this week on his jutsu."

"Won't it look a little strange for a masked ANBU to be working with an Academy student after school?" his wife asked since he obviously hadn't thought about the little detail of his identity and that he was wearing his mask when he made his promise. At the very least, they would be off duty by the time the Academy students would get out of school.

"Uh…, I'll figure something out," he sheepishly replied, scratching the back of his head as he realized his mistake. Sakura just shook her head at his lack of foresight.

By that time, they had reached Tsunade's office where she called them in as soon as Naruto knocked on the door.

"I hear you had a good morning," Tsunade said as the two ANBU made their way toward her desk.

"Hai Tsunade-sama," the pink haired ANBU answered.

"Ironically the kid just grabbed a set of random swords hoping that they would be valuable. I don't think he would have had much success in trading those off in an effort to become a rouge ninja," Tsunade informed them. Naruto shook his head at the irony. At least it wasn't the sealing scroll. "Have you two thought any more about whether or not you'd like to remain in ANBU?"

"I thought I had an answer, but after this morning I think I've changed my mind," Naruto began.

"Oh?" Tsunade said as both she and Sakura looked at him.

"I think I'd like to go back to regular mission duty if that's alright with you. I'd also like to apply for a Genin team," he said.

"I had a feeling this mission might make you change your mind. There are no open Jounin-instructor positions at the moment, but I will see what we can come up with. There may be something for you at the Academy," the Hokage said. She had known the blonde long enough to know that his big heart would want to help right the wrongs he saw, even if it was one Academy student at a time.

Sakura suddenly felt sick again and quickly left the room, much to Naruto and Tsunade's surprise. She returned a short while later waiving off any questions from her husband.

"Sakura, how are you feeling?" her concerned mentor asked.

"It must be something I ate Tsunade-sama," she replied.

"What did you eat, might I ask?" Tsunade said.

"Just some toast Shisou," the pinkette replied.

Tsunade studied the young woman before her for a few moments before speaking. "Sakura, I hope you don't hate me for what I'm about to do, but I'm relieving you of your ANBU duties until further notice," said the Hokage in a very serious tone.

"Why Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade stood up and removed the young woman's mask so that she could look her eye to eye. "When did you start feeling queasy?" she asked.

"Only the past couple of mornings, but I'm sure it's just something I ate," the young woman replied. She looked scared as if she knew where this conversation was going, but didn't want to accept it.

"Do you feel like you can smell everything around you and that certain smells might drive you nuts, or make you throw up?"

"Hai."

"Have you noticed anything else different about your body lately, as in weight gain, or thicker and stronger hair and fingernails?"

"Hai...," Sakura replied tentatively.

"Sakura, what about your last cycle?"

"Tsunade-sama!!"

"As your Hokage and a physician I think I have a right to ask that question," the older woman replied with a small smile on her lips. "Think about it, Sakura."

"What are you two talking about, Sakura," Naruto now asked. He had removed his own mask during this exchange and was looking into Sakura's jade green eyes hoping to figure out what was going on.

"You don't think…" Sakura began, the color slowly leaving her face. The Hokage only nodded her response as her smile started to get bigger. "But I can't be pregnant! There is just no way!"

The Hokage was trying not to laugh at the shocked look on Naruto's face and Sakura's indignant expression. "Sakura, are you absolutely sure?"

"Sakura?" Naruto said looking at his wife of not even two months.

"Well. OK. Maybe. But, I can still do missions, Tsunade-sama," she argued, color finally returning to her face as her emotions changed from shock to anger.

"Sakura, I'm sure Naruto would agree with me, that ANBU is far too dangerous for an expectant mother. You are welcome to come back to the hospital until you feel unable to perform your duties," the Hokage replied as she gently patted Sakura's arm in an attempt to console her apprentice.

Sakura's facial expressions ranged from shock, as she tried to mouth a reply that would not come, to a pout as she looked into the face of her mentor; Tsunade was obviously not budging from her decision. Naruto looked like he'd been slapped across the face before finally came back to reality with a shake of his head.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," Sakura finally relented and hung her head, but not for long as Naruto swept her up in a great big hug bringing her back to the entire reality of the situation; not just the loss of being forced to leave ANBU.

"I can't believe it. We're going to be parents," he whispered into her ear. "I love you, Sakura."

"I love you too, Naruto," she replied in a whisper, still in shock, weakly returning his hug.

"Now get out of here you two. I would expect you'd want to get your lockers cleaned out before the day is over. I'll let your commander know your decision, but I'm sure he'll want to talk to you more later. Dismissed," She said as the two former ANBU saluted and exited the room, both still in a daze. Once they were gone she finally allowed herself to laugh at the soon to be parents. 'I don't know what I'm going to do if any more of my ninja end up pregnant this year. I guess it's time to go through the roster, just in case.'

* * *

"Do you have a reason for being here?" the ANBU asked the young blonde as he came to the door he was guarding at the halfway house. He really didn't like pulling this duty, but he knew that this man he was guarding was potentially very dangerous and he didn't want to let his guard down even though he knew the man before him.

"I just want to drop something off for the teme," he replied.

"May I ask what it is?" the ANBU said, looking suspiciously at the contents of the basket.

"Just some fresh fruit and a note," the man replied with a knowing grin.

"I'm sorry, but I need to inspect this."

Taking the basket, the ANBU guard made sure that everything was in order before he glanced at the note.

"Really?" the man asked the blonde, letting a little emotion show in his voice.

"Yep!" Naruto replied.

"Congratulations," the guard replied, a little better in control of his emotions.

"Thanks. Let me know when the rest of the guys are off work and we'll go out to celebrate."

The guard only nodded and let the man approach the door. The halfway house didn't look like it was in any better shape than the old apartment Naruto once had, but it was out of the elements and Naruto knew that the man he was visiting was grateful for that small fact. Knocking on the door, Naruto could hear someone grumbling ominously on the other side, sending as much killer intent as the chakra seal he was wearing would allow. Years of training told him that maybe it would be better to leave the basket and come back later. It was the cowards way out, but he wanted to heal their friendship, not end up in another physical altercation with him. Placing the basket in front of the door, he knocked again and vanished out of sight, the reaction-less ANBU watching nearby.

The raven-haired man on the other side was just getting ready for what could laughingly be called his job and he was in a rather dreadful mood. He was part of a work crew made up of both ninja and civilian convicts. They had been informed at the end of the day yesterday that they would be rebuilding the training grounds that Choji and Kiba had destroyed during a recent sparing match. Sasuke came to the door, looking like he was ready to kill whoever had disturbed his morning, but found no one but his escort there. Looking down, he saw the basket and picked it up. Bringing it inside, he closed the door and noticed the brief note in the basket, which read: "Teme, Figured you'd be tired of eating that stuff they call rations by now. Wanted to let you know that Sakura's expecting our first child and you're going to be an uncle." It was signed simply with a small whirlpool mark at the bottom.

"Hn. Dobe," Sasuke said with a smirk, before taking a bite out of the best tasting apple he'd had in a long time.

* * *

"Tsunade did what?" Ino asked her pink haired friend as they sat in the dango shop.

Sakura had felt the need to talk to someone and Naruto was just too excited at the moment to really listen. She needed girl time and Ino was the first one she found. Fortunately, for her, Naruto had promised to help the academy student from this morning after school, leaving her to her own devises for a while.

"Tsunade relieved me of my duties," Sakura said before taking a sip of ginger tea. Not only was her stomach still a little sensitive, but the excitement of the morning was making it worse.

"But why?"

"She thinks I'm pregnant."

"Are you?" the wide eyed mind walker asked.

"I didn't want to believe it until I took a test, but…" Sakura trailed off. She wasn't sure yet if she wanted to be excited or cry.

Ino was practically leaning over the table in anticipation of Sakura's answer. "Well?"

"Yes, OK?! And I'm scared to death, is that what you want to hear?!" she shouted at her best friend. Sakura didn't know why she was sounding so angry.

"But I thought you and Naruto wanted kids?" Ino asked ignoring her friend's outburst.

"We do, I just didn't think it would be this soon. I'm still getting use to having him around all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love being married. There are just some times that I still wish I could go do random things; like hang out at the library or go hang out with you guys without him wondering where I've been. Or go shopping without getting into an argument later about finances or do my morning stretches without someone watching me or even eat half a pint of ice cream right from the carton and not have him whining about his share," Sakura rambled.

"I'd actually like to see you eat half a pint of ice cream myself," Ino laughed, as she waved a half empty dango stick in her friends direction.

"Shut up, Ino-buta!"

"Just kidding, Forehead. You are defiantly pregnant because your emotions are out of whack," Ino said holding up her hands in self-defense even though she was trying her hardest not to break down laughing. "But in all seriousness, I'm happy for you. Just think, you'll have a baby before you know it. Something in the flesh to represent the love you two share," Ino sighed with a dreamy look on her face. Sakura could tell she was thinking about her own fiancé at this point.

"I guess I never thought of it that way. I'm going to be a mom," she said as reality finally hit and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"This calls for a celebration. Just wait until everyone hears about this," Ino said as the Queen of Gossip side of her took over.

'Oh no, here we go again,' Sakura thought to herself, rolling her eyes as she let her friend work herself into a frenzy about the people she needed to talk to before the day was over. Sakura wasn't paying much attention now as she was thinking about the baby; a new little person that she was fully responsible for, she _and_ Naruto. Ino was still talking as Sakura placed her hand on her still flat stomach. She tried to envision the little being that was inside of her. Would it have blue eyes or green eyes? Boy or a girl? Blonde or pink hair? Most definitely with Naruto's smile and heart. Hopefully without its father's love of orange. They could teach so much to the baby: the animals in the forests around Konoha, she could teach it some medical jutsu, Naruto would probably take it to Ichiraku's when it was old enough…

"Are you listening to me, Forehead?" Ino asked with her hands on her hips.

"I'm sorry, did I miss something?"

"I said, 'here comes Daddy'," Ino said with a smirk as Naruto walked up behind her.

Sakura stood up as he walked toward her and she practically dove into his arms. He reached around her frame and gave her a great big comforting hug, just the type of hug she had been longing for.

"I love you, Naruto," she said as she let her tears fall freely now.

"I love you too, Sakura no hana."

**The End**

Well, not the very end. Feel free to read the rest in "My Father's Shoes"

Ja Ne.


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